Portuguese Private Institutions for Social Solidarity in the Context of Austerity: The Network of Social Canteens

Abstract

In recent decades, European states have delegated certain responsibilities to third sector. organizations (TSOs). In an effort to mitigate the social effects of austerity measures, the current Portuguese government, in partnership with TSOs — specifically, Private Institutions for Social Solidarity (IPSSs) — has helped to create a Social Canteen Network to ensure the supply of free meals to deprived families on a day-to-day basis. Using a qualitative methodology based on interviews with IPSSs senior staff and a director of the Social Intervention Centre of a Social Security District, this study aims to demonstrate how the Social Canteen Network may be fostering inequality and social exclusion, despite being heralded as a model of social innovation.