The Development of the Voluntary Sector in Great Britain with a Focus on Social Change During the 1970s and 1980s

There is currently a strong interest within British historiography in the voluntary sector and voluntary action during the twentieth century. This article focuses on the history of the regulation of social relations and the interplay between welfare state and individual in the 1970s and 1980s. It offers insights on the "moving frontier" between voluntary sector and state, especially the contradictory effects of the Thatcher government's policy towards organizations which seemed to embody the virtues of self-help the Iron Lady was praising. After that, the case study of the Carers National Association illustrates how the voluntary sector influenced social policy. Finally, it pleads for research on the third sector in Germany - a perspective that sheds light on the 1970s and 1980s as a "decade of complexity".