ABSTRACT
The Austrian welfare mix, i.e. the division of tasks among various actors to provide social security and to sustain social cohesion, has been shaped mainly by the following historical traditions and developments: first, the important historical influence of the Catholic church and its social welfare paradigms and, in particular, the principle of subsidiarity; second, the importance of welfare organisations affiliated to the socialist (now social democratic) movement, which favoured consumer co-operatives rather than producer co-operatives; and third, the corporatist approach to state regulation (Sozialpartnerschaft).1 Another important feature of the Austrian society after 1945 has been the far-reaching ‘pillarisation’, which has created a universe of (welfare) organisations affiliated to political parties or religious entities.
