Understanding Voluntary Action: Past, Present and Future
Civil Society Research Cluster, School of Social Policy, Sociology & Social Research, University of Kent
Welcome from Dr Beth Breeze, director of the Centre for Philanthropy and convener of the Civil Society research cluster 2019/20
Keynote speakers
Professor Hugh Cunningham
Professor Emeritus of History, University of Kent, author of ‘The Reputaion of Philanthropy Since 1750’, published by Manchester University Press.
Paper title: Philanthropy and Voluntary Action: 1750 to the present
Since ‘philanthropy’ as a word was first used in the mid-eighteenth century it has undergone significant changes. It started as a feeling of love of humanity, requiring no action, and has become, through a number of permutations, a descriptor of the donations made by the rich to good causes. It has also attracted a considerable body of criticism. I will explore how this history relates to the idea of ‘voluntary action’, whose provenance is similar to that of philanthropy. At times in the past they have seemed to be very close to one another, but at others distant, even antagonistic.
Dr Jon Dean
Reader in Politics and Sociology, Sheffield Hallam University, author of The Good Glow: Charity and the Symbolic Power of Doing Good published May 2020 by Policy Press
Paper title: The present of voluntary action
This short presentation provides an overview of several key sociological issues for the study and understanding of voluntary action. This includes the role of self-interest and altruism in giving decisions, the weaponization of charity symbols, and thinking through what counts as voluntary action. It concludes by arguing that we need to remember to connect what happens in the voluntary sector to wider social forces and issues.
Professor Ilana Silber
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bar-Ilan University, with expertise in gift theory, repertoires of cultural discourses and emotions in philanthropy, currently working on justifications and critiques of elite philanthropy.
Paper title: “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”: Mega Giving as Cultural and Democratic Conundrum
My talk will discuss the ambiguous position of elite philanthropy in contemporary liberal democratic context, where it is undergoing extensive expansion on the one hand but also facing mounting criticism and public distrust on the other. I shall aim to provide a “road map” to the recent flood of critiques of mega philanthropy deployed in a range of media and influential publications. In such perspective, contemporary elite philanthropy emerges as an arena besieged by intense cultural dilemmas and societal contradictions, with challenging implications for the operation of public giving as a vector of civic action and commonality in our times.
Overview of new books written by Civil Society research cluster members
· Dr Ali Body – Children’s Charities in Crisis: Early Intervention and the State
· Dr Kate Bradley – Lawyers for the Poor: Legal Advice, Voluntary Action and Citizenship in England, 1890-1990
· Dr Corey Wrenn – Piecemeal Protest: Animal Rights on the Age of Nonprofits
