Abstract EN:

The purpose of this work is to study, from a sociological point of view, the mechanisms and contradictions of voluntary social action under all its aspects - charity, social action, and so on. . . - aimed at the poorest layers of population in barcelona city and its region between the years 1991 and 1997. Two questions underlie in this work : first to find out wether there is a transfer from religious commitment to social commitment and second to analyse the ideological motivations supporting social action in that segment of population, with its characteristics and its internal contradictions. This work consists of three parts : historical approach intended to go back to the primary sources of the phenomenon, in order to follow its ideological build-up with time, socio-economical approach in order to also study the environmental conditions in which it is particularly developing, since the beginning of the eighties, in catalonia, then a purely sociological study carried out directly on the field, based on interviews with individuals totally involved in a social action process public or private -, and questionnaries sent directly to volunteers to obtain in this way first hand information.