Private welfare in the welfare state: recent U.S. patterns

This paper examines recent trends in American philanthropy and relates these to changes in the composition and size of both the private and public welfare sectors in the United States. The findings reveal that private welfare has been overwhelmed - but not replaced - by the growth in public welfare. Although private welfare maintains some of it traditional functions, it has become more closely linked to and in some cases dependent on, public welfare. Consequently, there have been significant changes in the institutional character and organizational format and operations of private welfare. These transformations of the American welfare system are interpreted within the mass-society perspective.