An article said that socio-demographic characteristics and contextual data were important predictors of volunteer rates in European countries. Macro-policies might be effective tools to promote national volunteering participation, because international differences on volunteer rates smoothed with the introduction of national contextual data.
Source: Ana Gil-Lacruz and Carmen Marcuello, 'Voluntary work in Europe: comparative analysis among countries and welfare systems', Social Indicators Research, Volume 114 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined the role of community in United Kingdom society and its connection to charitable giving. It said that 44 per cent of adults gave money to their local community, many wanted to be more active in their community, and around half would give more if it was possible to see the direct local impact of the donations.
Source: Shine a Light, UK Community Foundations
Links: Report | UK Community Foundations press release | Third Sector report
Date: 2013-Dec
A study examined how civil society organizations in Europe had been affected by the financial and economic crisis. The report noted that the crisis might be seen as an opportunity for civil society to adapt its roles in decision-making processes and in the facilitation of engagement of European citizens.
Source: The Impact of the Crisis on Civil Society Organisations in the EU: Risks and opportunities, European Economic and Social Committee
Date: 2013-Nov
A report by a committee of peers said that limited progress had been made in building on opportunities for sports participation, transport, volunteering and regeneration. The committee had found there was confusion on timeframes, targets, and ownership for delivery of the legacy elements. Recommendations included: action on sports facilities and coaching; a single minister to take charge of the spectrum of legacy activities; and the Mayor of London to take responsibility for delivering regeneration in East London and the Olympic Park.
Source: Keeping the Flame Alive: The Olympic and Paralympic legacy, First Report (Session 2013–14), HL 78, House of Lords Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Nov
A government report examined policy and progress on social action. It discussed: the giving of money; the giving of time; community action; and the involvement of young people.
Source: Encouraging Social Action, Cabinet Office
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Nov
A new book examined how the promise of civil society participation in the governance of the European Union was put into practice, and whether the political practice deserved to be called 'participatory democracy'.
Source: Beate Kohler-Koch and Christine Quittkat, De-Mystification of Participatory Democracy: EU-governance and civil society, Oxford University Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Sep
A think-tank report said that headteachers and their governing bodies should be supported to become engaged with the idea of 'citizen schools' and to organize their own citizen school development plans. Regional and area-based curriculums should be updated to include relevant active citizenship opportunities. Existing and future government citizenship initiatives should be devolved to a more local level, and citizen schools encouraged to deliver them to ensure that this work was institutionalized, sustained, and shared.
Source: Jamie Audsley, Clyde Chitty, Jim O Connell, David Watson, and Jane Wills, Citizen Schools: Learning to rebuild democracy, Institute for Public Policy Research
Notes: A 'citizen school' is a school that explicitly creates a democratic culture through its role as a civic institution.
Date: 2013-Sep
An article examined different understandings of the concept of civil society, and their implications for service provision by the third sector.
Source: Adalbert Evers, 'The concept of "civil society": different understandings and their implications for third sector policies', Voluntary Sector Review, Volume 4 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
Four linked articles examined citizenship education in schools.
Source: Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, Volume 8 Number 2
Links: Table of contents
Notes: Articles included:
Mikael Sundstrom and Christian Fernandez, 'Citizenship education and diversity in liberal societies: theory and policy in a comparative perspective'
Jonathan Birdwell, Ralph Scott, and Edward Horley, 'Active citizenship, education and service learning'
Isabelle Cote, Malena Rosen Sundstrom, and Anders Sannerstedt, '"The state of the debate": a media analysis of the debates on liberalization and citizenship education in France, Sweden, and England, 2001-2010'
Avril Keating and Tom Benton, 'Creating cohesive citizens in England? Exploring the role of diversity, deprivation and democratic climate at school'
Date: 2013-Jul
A report said that the official citizenship test for immigrants was impractical and inconsistent, and contained significant gender imbalance – rendering it 'unfit for purpose' and like 'a bad pub quiz'.
Source: Thom Brooks, The 'Life in the United Kingdom' Citizenship Test: Is It Unfit for Purpose?, Durham University
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined the idea of the 'Big Society' and its relationship to the other major plank in the coalition government's social policy agenda, large cuts in public expenditure. The neo-liberal engine driving the strategy – the hollowing-out of the state – had implications for the community initiatives and non-governmental organizations favoured by the Big Society's promoters. There many similarities between the Big Society idea and Margaret Thatcher's denial of the existence of society, despite the rhetorical distancing. The authors examined the parallel 'Blue Labour' analysis and suggested an alternative participatory democratic approach.
Source: Steve Corbett and Alan Walker, 'The big society: rediscovery of "the social" or rhetorical fig-leaf for neo-liberalism?', Critical Social Policy, Volume 33 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined how activation policies framed citizens as individual welfare agents in the Netherlands and England. Governments could not compel their citizens to volunteer their time: but they could play on their emotions. English politicians employed 'empowerment talk' calculated to trigger positive feelings about being active citizens, while Dutch politicians employed 'responsibility talk' conveying negative feelings about failure to participate more actively in society. Responsibility talk ran the risk that citizens responded with counter-responsibility claims, whereas empowerment talk could fail to incite sufficient enthusiasm among citizens.
Source: Imrat Verhoeven and Evelien Tonkens, 'Talking active citizenship: framing welfare state reform in England and the Netherlands', Social Policy and Society, Volume 12 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
A small-scale survey of people doing voluntary work found that one-half expressed a negative view of the 'Big Society', and only 1 in 8 were in favour of it.
Source: Rose Lindsey and Sarah Bulloch, What the Public Think of the Big Society : Mass Observers views on individual and community capacity for civic engagement, Working Paper 95, Third Sector Research Centre
Links: Paper | TSRC press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Apr
A new book said that, far from being an alien English import, the 'Big Society' was more Welsh than English. Wales could contribute to the development of Big Society ideas in practice – and at the same time renew its own economic life, identity, and traditions.
Source: Dan Boucher, The Big Society in a Small Country: Wales, social capital, mutualism and self-help, Institute of Welsh Affairs
Links: Summary | Click on Wales blog post
Date: 2013-Apr
An article examined the contradictions thrown up by the 'localism' and 'Big Society' agendas, in the context of welfare reform and housing policy.
Source: Keith Jacobs and Tony Manzi, 'New localism, old retrenchment: the 'Big Society', housing policy and the politics of welfare reform', Housing, Theory and Society, Volume 30 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined the coalition government s 'Big Society' and localism agenda, and the implications and challenges for local government, the third sector, and planning. It suggested a broad research agenda through which to reflect on changes in democratic policy and the shifting relationships between the state and civil society.
Source: Michael Buser, 'Tracing the democratic narrative: Big Society, localism and civic engagement', Local Government Studies, Volume 39 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined the claim that comprehensive secondary schooling helped to promote an integrated or harmonious society. It sought to distinguish between the general effects of education on civic-mindedness – in the sense that, for example, on the whole, better-educated people tended to be more liberal, respectful of diversity, and so on – and the effects specifically associated with having attended a non-selective school or non-selective system.
Source: Lindsay Paterson, 'Comprehensive education, social attitudes and civic engagement', Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, Volume 4 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
The first results were published of a new official survey on issues including volunteering, giving, community engagement, and well-being. Just under half (49 per cent) of people had volunteered at least once a month in the previous year, a significant increase from 41 per cent in 2010-11. 74 per cent of people had given money to charity in the four weeks prior to being interviewed, unchanged from 2010-11 levels.
Source: Community Life Survey: Q2 2012-13 (August–October 2012), Statistical Press release, Cabinet Office
Links: Statistical press release | Charity Times report
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined the shift in discourses of citizenship from notions of entitlement and obligation to those of self-government. It considered the claim that the 'Big Society' project represented a unique rationality of government and an alternative formula of advanced liberal rule.
Source: Pathik Pathak, 'From New Labour to New Conservatism: the changing dynamics of citizenship as self-government', Citizenship Studies, Volume 17 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
A survey found that there was 'overwhelming scepticism' about the Big Society among people working for charities and voluntary organizations. Participants in the study thought that the concept was confusing, at odds with the realities of everyday living, and contradicted by the coalition government's agenda of public spending cuts.
Source: Rob Macmillan, Making Sense of the Big Society: Perspectives from the third sector, Working Paper 90, Third Sector Research Centre
Links: Paper | Summary | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jan
An article presented a critical sociological analysis of the coalition government's 'Big Society' policy. It said that the policy would result in increased moral fragmentation; the furthering of economic inequality; and the development of a 'postcode lottery' in service provision.
Source: Matt Dawson, 'Against the Big Society: a Durkheimian socialist critique', Critical Social Policy, Volume 33 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan
An article compared citizenship/integration policies in Germany, Great Britain, and Denmark. National citizenship policies still reflected continuities of culturally bounded nation states, and path-dependent reactions to such continuities. The British critique of multiculturalism was more a re-balancing whose concepts represented the continuity of a weak, non-state-oriented citizenship.
Source: Per Mouritsen, 'The resilience of citizenship traditions: civic integration in Germany, Great Britain and Denmark', Ethnicities, Volume 13 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan