Angus McCabe and Jenny Phillimore (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781447327776
- eISBN:
- 9781447327806
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447327776.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
Whilst there is a growing body of literature on formal voluntary organisations, relatively little research has been undertaken into the roles and functioning of small, informal, below the radar ...
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Whilst there is a growing body of literature on formal voluntary organisations, relatively little research has been undertaken into the roles and functioning of small, informal, below the radar community groups and actions. ‘Community groups in context: Local activities and actions’ brings together a decade of research with informal community groups and small scale civil society organisations. It explores the wealth and diversity of their forms and activities, their fragility, strategies for survival and their position in relation to a range of public policy objectives. In particular the book examines under-researched aspects of small scale community action: from voluntary arts through to Gypsy, Traveller and Roma groups through to how people learn through to how activists learn, the emotional investment in community action and the voice of below the radar groups in local and national policy contexts.Less
Whilst there is a growing body of literature on formal voluntary organisations, relatively little research has been undertaken into the roles and functioning of small, informal, below the radar community groups and actions. ‘Community groups in context: Local activities and actions’ brings together a decade of research with informal community groups and small scale civil society organisations. It explores the wealth and diversity of their forms and activities, their fragility, strategies for survival and their position in relation to a range of public policy objectives. In particular the book examines under-researched aspects of small scale community action: from voluntary arts through to Gypsy, Traveller and Roma groups through to how people learn through to how activists learn, the emotional investment in community action and the voice of below the radar groups in local and national policy contexts.
Rose Lindsey and John Mohan
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781447324836
- eISBN:
- 9781447324850
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447324836.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
This book provides a longitudinal perspective on change and continuity in voluntary action in recent decades in the UK. Drawing on more than 30 years of different quantitative and qualitative data, ...
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This book provides a longitudinal perspective on change and continuity in voluntary action in recent decades in the UK. Drawing on more than 30 years of different quantitative and qualitative data, its longitudinal, mixed-methods approach offers insights into recent and contemporary British voluntary action. The book deploys a range of quantitative data sources on individual behaviour, both cross-sectional and longitudinal, to analyse aggregate trends in individual engagement in both formal and informal volunteering, in the level and frequency of engagement, the types of activities that volunteers carry out, their responses to questions concerning their motivation and the rewards they obtain from volunteering. These analyses are complemented, and given much greater depth, by the use of qualitative data from individuals who volunteer for the Mass Observation Project, through which they provide free-form written testimony about their daily lives. Tracking a subset of these individuals over time provides unique and novel insights into behaviour, motivation, and lifetime engagement. This source is also highly informative of individuals’ understandings of, and particularly their attitudes towards, voluntary action, and the balance between public and private responsibility for the provision of public services. The findings lead us to caution against any simplistic suggestions that levels of voluntary action can be increased significantly without policies that work with the grain of individuals’ everyday lives.Less
This book provides a longitudinal perspective on change and continuity in voluntary action in recent decades in the UK. Drawing on more than 30 years of different quantitative and qualitative data, its longitudinal, mixed-methods approach offers insights into recent and contemporary British voluntary action. The book deploys a range of quantitative data sources on individual behaviour, both cross-sectional and longitudinal, to analyse aggregate trends in individual engagement in both formal and informal volunteering, in the level and frequency of engagement, the types of activities that volunteers carry out, their responses to questions concerning their motivation and the rewards they obtain from volunteering. These analyses are complemented, and given much greater depth, by the use of qualitative data from individuals who volunteer for the Mass Observation Project, through which they provide free-form written testimony about their daily lives. Tracking a subset of these individuals over time provides unique and novel insights into behaviour, motivation, and lifetime engagement. This source is also highly informative of individuals’ understandings of, and particularly their attitudes towards, voluntary action, and the balance between public and private responsibility for the provision of public services. The findings lead us to caution against any simplistic suggestions that levels of voluntary action can be increased significantly without policies that work with the grain of individuals’ everyday lives.
Peter M. Birkeland
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226051901
- eISBN:
- 9780226051925
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226051925.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
McDonald's, Blockbuster Video, Jiffy Lube, and Subway: franchising has become an ever-present feature of the American landscape. One-third of the U.S. gross domestic product flows through franchises, ...
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McDonald's, Blockbuster Video, Jiffy Lube, and Subway: franchising has become an ever-present feature of the American landscape. One-third of the U.S. gross domestic product flows through franchises, and one out of every sixteen workers is employed by one. But how did franchising come to play such a dominant role in the American economy? What are the day-to-day experiences of franchisees and franchisers in the workplace? What challenges and pitfalls await them as they stake their claim to prosperity? These are just a few of the questions explored in this book, a documentary-like look into the frustrations and uncertainties that entrepreneurs face in their pursuit of the American dream. The author worked for three years in the front-line operations of franchise units for three companies, met with CEOs and executives, and attended countless trade shows, seminars, and expositions. All this firsthand experience gave him unprecedented access to the hopes and aspirations of franchisees. His book closely traces different franchisees and follows them as their dreams of wealth and independence buckle beneath the weight of frustrating logistics and contractual technicalities. Through extensive interviews and research, the author not only discovers what makes franchisees succeed or fail, he uncovers the difficulties in running a business according to someone else's system and values. Bearing witness to a market flooded with fierce competitors and dependent on the inscrutable whims of consumers, he uncovers the numerous challenges that franchisees face in making their businesses succeed.Less
McDonald's, Blockbuster Video, Jiffy Lube, and Subway: franchising has become an ever-present feature of the American landscape. One-third of the U.S. gross domestic product flows through franchises, and one out of every sixteen workers is employed by one. But how did franchising come to play such a dominant role in the American economy? What are the day-to-day experiences of franchisees and franchisers in the workplace? What challenges and pitfalls await them as they stake their claim to prosperity? These are just a few of the questions explored in this book, a documentary-like look into the frustrations and uncertainties that entrepreneurs face in their pursuit of the American dream. The author worked for three years in the front-line operations of franchise units for three companies, met with CEOs and executives, and attended countless trade shows, seminars, and expositions. All this firsthand experience gave him unprecedented access to the hopes and aspirations of franchisees. His book closely traces different franchisees and follows them as their dreams of wealth and independence buckle beneath the weight of frustrating logistics and contractual technicalities. Through extensive interviews and research, the author not only discovers what makes franchisees succeed or fail, he uncovers the difficulties in running a business according to someone else's system and values. Bearing witness to a market flooded with fierce competitors and dependent on the inscrutable whims of consumers, he uncovers the numerous challenges that franchisees face in making their businesses succeed.
Robert Hoppe
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847429629
- eISBN:
- 9781447303848
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847429629.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
Contemporary democracies need to develop a better governance of problems, as all too often policy is a sophisticated answer to the wrong problem. This book offers a new approach to public-policy ...
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Contemporary democracies need to develop a better governance of problems, as all too often policy is a sophisticated answer to the wrong problem. This book offers a new approach to public-policy making as problem processing, bringing together aspects of puzzling, powering, and participation, relating them to cultural theory, to issues about networks, to models of democracy, and to modes of citizen participation. It is part of a growing body of work in policy analysis literature.Less
Contemporary democracies need to develop a better governance of problems, as all too often policy is a sophisticated answer to the wrong problem. This book offers a new approach to public-policy making as problem processing, bringing together aspects of puzzling, powering, and participation, relating them to cultural theory, to issues about networks, to models of democracy, and to modes of citizen participation. It is part of a growing body of work in policy analysis literature.
Hannah Lambie-Mumford
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781447328285
- eISBN:
- 9781447328308
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447328285.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
Drawing on empirical research with the UK’s two largest charitable food organisations, this book explores the prolific rise of food charity over the last 15 years and its implications for overcoming ...
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Drawing on empirical research with the UK’s two largest charitable food organisations, this book explores the prolific rise of food charity over the last 15 years and its implications for overcoming food insecurity. As the welfare state withdraws, leaving food banks to protect the most vulnerable, the author questions the sustainability of this system and asks where responsibility lies – in practice and in theory – for ensuring everyone can realise their human right to food. The book argues that effective, policy-driven solutions require a clear rights-based framework, which enables a range of actors including the state, charities and the food industry to work together towards, and be held accountable for, the progressive realisation of the right to food for all in the UK.Less
Drawing on empirical research with the UK’s two largest charitable food organisations, this book explores the prolific rise of food charity over the last 15 years and its implications for overcoming food insecurity. As the welfare state withdraws, leaving food banks to protect the most vulnerable, the author questions the sustainability of this system and asks where responsibility lies – in practice and in theory – for ensuring everyone can realise their human right to food. The book argues that effective, policy-driven solutions require a clear rights-based framework, which enables a range of actors including the state, charities and the food industry to work together towards, and be held accountable for, the progressive realisation of the right to food for all in the UK.
Christine Milligan and David Conradson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781861346322
- eISBN:
- 9781447302650
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781861346322.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
This book brings together a collection of new and innovative work by researchers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK - settings where issues of voluntarism and participation have become ...
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This book brings together a collection of new and innovative work by researchers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK - settings where issues of voluntarism and participation have become increasingly important for the development and delivery of social welfare policy. Prefaced by one of the foremost geographers in this field, the book contains empirical and theoretical work from both new and well-established geographers. The chapters explore the interactions between voluntarism and a range of issues including governance, health, community action, faith, ethnicity, counselling, advocacy and professionalisation.Less
This book brings together a collection of new and innovative work by researchers from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK - settings where issues of voluntarism and participation have become increasingly important for the development and delivery of social welfare policy. Prefaced by one of the foremost geographers in this field, the book contains empirical and theoretical work from both new and well-established geographers. The chapters explore the interactions between voluntarism and a range of issues including governance, health, community action, faith, ethnicity, counselling, advocacy and professionalisation.
Erika Effler
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226188652
- eISBN:
- 9780226188676
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226188676.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
Why do people keep fighting for social causes in the face of consistent failure? Why do they risk their physical, emotional, and financial safety on behalf of strangers? How do these groups survive ...
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Why do people keep fighting for social causes in the face of consistent failure? Why do they risk their physical, emotional, and financial safety on behalf of strangers? How do these groups survive high turnover and emotional burnout? To explore these questions, the authors of this book undertook three years of ethnographic fieldwork with two groups: anti-death penalty activists STOP and the Catholic Workers, who strive to alleviate poverty. In both communities, members must contend with problems that range from the broad to the intimately personal. Adverse political conditions, internal conflict, and fluctuations in financial resources create a backdrop of daily frustration—but watching an addict relapse or an inmate's execution are much more devastating setbacks. This book finds that overcoming these obstacles, recovering from failure, and maintaining the integrity of the group require a constant process of emotional fine-tuning, and it demonstrates how activists do this through thoughtful analysis and a lucid rendering of their deeply affecting stories.Less
Why do people keep fighting for social causes in the face of consistent failure? Why do they risk their physical, emotional, and financial safety on behalf of strangers? How do these groups survive high turnover and emotional burnout? To explore these questions, the authors of this book undertook three years of ethnographic fieldwork with two groups: anti-death penalty activists STOP and the Catholic Workers, who strive to alleviate poverty. In both communities, members must contend with problems that range from the broad to the intimately personal. Adverse political conditions, internal conflict, and fluctuations in financial resources create a backdrop of daily frustration—but watching an addict relapse or an inmate's execution are much more devastating setbacks. This book finds that overcoming these obstacles, recovering from failure, and maintaining the integrity of the group require a constant process of emotional fine-tuning, and it demonstrates how activists do this through thoughtful analysis and a lucid rendering of their deeply affecting stories.
Christian Bason
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847426345
- eISBN:
- 9781447302681
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847426345.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
In a time of unprecedented turbulence, how can public sector organisations increase their ability to find innovative solutions to society's problems? This book shows how government agencies can use ...
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In a time of unprecedented turbulence, how can public sector organisations increase their ability to find innovative solutions to society's problems? This book shows how government agencies can use co-creation to overcome barriers and deliver more value, at lower cost, to citizens and business. The book is prescriptive. It shapes around the framework of an innovation ecosystem, encompassing the four Cs of consciousness, capacity, co-creation and courage. Through global case studies and practical examples, the book addresses the key triggers of public sector innovation. It shares new tools for citizen involvement through design thinking and ethnographic research, and pinpoints the leadership roles needed to drive innovation at all levels of government.Less
In a time of unprecedented turbulence, how can public sector organisations increase their ability to find innovative solutions to society's problems? This book shows how government agencies can use co-creation to overcome barriers and deliver more value, at lower cost, to citizens and business. The book is prescriptive. It shapes around the framework of an innovation ecosystem, encompassing the four Cs of consciousness, capacity, co-creation and courage. Through global case studies and practical examples, the book addresses the key triggers of public sector innovation. It shares new tools for citizen involvement through design thinking and ethnographic research, and pinpoints the leadership roles needed to drive innovation at all levels of government.
Peter King
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847428547
- eISBN:
- 9781447303923
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847428547.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
Does the coalition government represent a new politics in Britain, or is the new government just the same old Tories hiding behind an opportunist pact with the Liberal Democrats? Does Cameron differ ...
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Does the coalition government represent a new politics in Britain, or is the new government just the same old Tories hiding behind an opportunist pact with the Liberal Democrats? Does Cameron differ from past Conservatives like Margaret Thatcher, and if so, how? This book looks at the coalition government in the context of conservative ideas and seeks to assess what, if anything, is new about it.Less
Does the coalition government represent a new politics in Britain, or is the new government just the same old Tories hiding behind an opportunist pact with the Liberal Democrats? Does Cameron differ from past Conservatives like Margaret Thatcher, and if so, how? This book looks at the coalition government in the context of conservative ideas and seeks to assess what, if anything, is new about it.
Niels Akerstrom Andersen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847420268
- eISBN:
- 9781447302926
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847420268.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Organizations
Everyone is talking about partnerships: environmental partnerships, social partnerships, public–private partnerships, partnerships between NGOs in Europe and the third world. How did partnerships ...
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Everyone is talking about partnerships: environmental partnerships, social partnerships, public–private partnerships, partnerships between NGOs in Europe and the third world. How did partnerships come to emerge almost everywhere and at almost the same time? What is their inner logic? And at what point does that logic begin to break down? In a highly complex society, the conditions on which agreements are built are constantly changing, demanding, first and foremost, that parties agree to reach an agreement. Partnering is an answer to the growing differentiation and dynamism of the societies in which we live. While this answer holds great potential, it is, however, also very fragile. It is the aim of this book to improve our understanding of the shifting ground on which agreements must be reached in today’s hyper-complex society.Less
Everyone is talking about partnerships: environmental partnerships, social partnerships, public–private partnerships, partnerships between NGOs in Europe and the third world. How did partnerships come to emerge almost everywhere and at almost the same time? What is their inner logic? And at what point does that logic begin to break down? In a highly complex society, the conditions on which agreements are built are constantly changing, demanding, first and foremost, that parties agree to reach an agreement. Partnering is an answer to the growing differentiation and dynamism of the societies in which we live. While this answer holds great potential, it is, however, also very fragile. It is the aim of this book to improve our understanding of the shifting ground on which agreements must be reached in today’s hyper-complex society.
Personalising public services
The politics of civil society
