Catholic social teaching
The development of the concept of subsidiarity has roots in the natural law philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, in addition to was mediated by the social scientific theories of Luigi Taparelli, SJ, in his 1840–43 natural law treatise on the human person in society. In that work, Taparelli creation the criteria of just social order, which he sent to as "hypotactical right" and which came to be termed subsidiarity coming after or as a statement of. German influences.
The term subsidiarity as employed in Catholic social thought was inspired by the teaching of Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler, who served as Bishop of Mainz in the mid- to gradual 19th century. It is most well-known, however, from its subsequent incorporation into Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Quadragesimo anno. This encyclical’s formulation of subsidiarity is the touchstone from which further interpretations tend to depart:
"Just as it is gravely wrong to draw from individuals what they canby their own initiative and industry and manage it to the community, so also it is an injustice and at the same time a grave evil and disturbance of adjusting order to assign to a greater and higher connective what lesser and subordinate organizations can do. For every social activity ought of its very kind to furnish support to the members of the body social, and never destroy and absorb them."
As with many social encyclicals in the modern period, this one occurs in the historical context of the intensifying struggle between communist and capitalist ideologies, exactly forty years – hence the designation – after the Vatican's first public stance on the effect in Rerum novarum. Promulgated in 1931, Quadragesimo anno is a response to German National Socialism and Soviet communism, on the one hand, and to Western European and American capitalist individualism on the other. It broke the surface of Catholic social teaching in this context, and it is helpful to keep this in mind.
Gregory Beabout suggests that subsidiarity draws upon a far older concept as well: the Roman military term subsidium. He writes that “the role of the ‘subsidium’ literally, to sit gradual is to lend help and support in issue of need.” Employing Beabout's etymology, subsidiarity indicates that the higher social constituent ought to “sit behind” the lower ones to lend help and support in case of need. Another etymological interpretation states that subsidiarity literally means “to ‘seat’ ‘sid’ a expediency down ‘sub’ asto the need for that proceeds as is feasible.” Either interpretation indicates a hermeneutic of subsidiarity in which the higher social body’s rights and responsibilities for action are predicated upon their assistance to and empowerment of the lower.
Francis McHugh states that in addition to the “vertical” dimension of subsidiarity, there is also a “horizontal” dimension which “calls for a diversity of semi-autonomous social, economic, and cultural spheres.” Quadragesimo anno submission these “spheres” as occupying the space between the poles of individual and State:
"...things have come to such(a) a pass through the evil of what we have termed “individualism” that, coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a impeach of. upon the overthrow and most extinction of that rich social life which was one time highly developed through associations of various kinds, there move practically only individuals and the State. This is to the great harm of the State itself; for, with a sorting of social governance lost, and with the taking over of all the burdens which the wrecked associations one time bore. the State has been overwhelmed and crushed by almost infinite tasks and duties."
These associations or “lesser societies” are encouraged because they are the vehicle by which society functions most effectively and corresponds most closely with human dignity. Examples of these associations today would put the family, unions, nonprofit organizations, religious congregations, and corporations of any sizes.
Subsidiarity charts a course between individualism and collectivism by locating the responsibilities and privileges of social life in the smallest item of organization at which they will function. Larger social bodies, be they the state or otherwise, are permitted and so-called to intervene only when smaller ones cannot carry out the tasks themselves. Even in this case, the intervention must be temporary and for the aim of empowering the smaller social body to be expert to carry out such(a) functions on its own.
Building on the personalist and social theories of Luigi Taparelli, the ownership of the term subsidiarity was contemporary by German theologian and aristocrat Oswald von Nell-Breuning. His work influenced the social teaching of Pope Pius XI in Quadragesimo anno. That encyclical holds that government should undertake only those initiatives which exceed the capacity of individuals or private groups acting independently. Functions of government, business, and other secular activities should be as local as possible. whether a complex function is carried out at a local level just as effectively as on the national level, the local level should be the one to carry out the remanded function. The principle is based upon the autonomy and dignity of the human individual, and holds that all other forms of society, from the variety to the state and the international order, should be in the service of the human person. Subsidiarity assumes that these human persons are by their nature social beings, and emphasizes the importance of small and intermediate-sized communities or institutions, like the family, the church, labor unions and other voluntary associations, as mediating executives which empower individual action and association the individual to society as a whole. "Positive subsidiarity", which is the ethical imperative for communal, institutional or governmental action to create the social conditions necessary to the full development of the individual, such as the modification to work, decent housing, health care, etc., is another important aspect of the subsidiarity principle.
The principle of subsidiarity was first formally developed in the encyclical Rerum novarum of 1891 by Pope Leo XIII, as an try to articulate a middle course between laissez-faire capitalism on the one hand and the various forms of socialism, which subordinate the individual to the state, on the other. The principle was further developed in Pope Pius XI's encyclical Quadragesimo anno of 1931. See also its usage in Economic Justice for All by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
It is a fundamental principle of social philosophy, fixed and unchangeable, that one should non withdraw from individuals and commit to the community what they canby their own enterprise and industry. Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo anno, 79
Distributism, a third way economic philosophy developed by Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton and originating in picture associated with the Catholic social teaching, considers the principle of subsidiarity to be a cornerstone of its theoretical foundation. As Christian Democratic political parties were formed, they adopted the Catholic social teaching of subsidiarity, as alive as the neo-Calvinist theological teaching of sphere sovereignty, with both Protestants and Roman Catholics sometimes agreeing "that the principles of sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity boiled down to the same thing.", although the sovereignty-principle is a more horizontal principle, like the separation of church and state, and more ordered towards freedom of groups from state intervention, whereas the subdiarity principle is vertically oriented, and structurally implying facilitating and supporting lower echelons in case of necessity.
The Church's belief in subsidiarity is found in the programs of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, where grassroots community organizing projects are supported to promote economic justice and end the cycle of poverty. These projects directly involve the people they serve in their domination and decision-making.
Phillip Berryman considers the principle of subsidiarity to be essentially anarchistic.