Civil Society Organisations: Whatever Happened to Morality and Altruism?
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Fundamental changes to British social policy have seen civil society organisations assume a significant role in welfare provision but competing for money, growth and status has come at a high price. What has happened to integrity and charitable motivations when many have become complicit in a gilded webof neo-liberal arrangements and a rapidly privatising service industry?
Drawing on a range of studies from their recently published book*, Linda Milbourne and Ursula Murray question why many organisations are apparently reinforcing the social, economic and political systems they were originally established to reform. The authors reflect critically on whether the tide may be turning, with some organisational workers starting to question the inevitability of 'the way things are'. In parallel, they observe a reawakening of critical voices, with broad alliances of civil society groups seeking to challenge the growing inequalities and failures of current systems.
*Milbourne, L. and U. Murray (2017) Civil Society Organizations in Turbulent Times, A Gilded Web? Trentham/UCL/IoE Press, London
Other related publications include: (Milbourne) Voluntary Sector in Transition: Hard Times or New Opportunities? (2013, Policy Press); (Murray) 'Local Government and the Meaning of Publicness' in Public Service on the Brink (ed. J. Manson, 2012); and articles for the Journal of Social Policy and Voluntas on austerity, welfare and policy resistance.
Dr Linda Milbourne is a former Assistant Dean at Birkbeck, University of London and an associate fellow at the Third Sector Research Centre, University of Birmingham. Her research has focused on critical social policy, civil society organisations, changing welfare relationships and the suppression of alternatives. She has some 30 years' experience of public and voluntary organisations, including as a manager, trustee and active campaigner.
Dr Ursula Murray is a former lecturer and honorary teaching fellow in social policy at Birkbeck, University of London with a background in organisational dynamics and relational approaches to teaching and learning. She has undertaken narrative research into the meaning of the public sector, and the impact of neoliberalism on the political economy of civil society.
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Centre For The Study Of British Politics And Public Life