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PhD proposal
Apr. 2nd, 2025 02:01 pmIn the absence of anything else to discuss.. comments welcome on this proposal for a PhD (yes, I'm probably out of my mind). I have just sent it in for discussion. Start date would be September 2026.
Proposal title: With the Best of Intentions. Society, Economy and the British Charity Landscape.
Abstract:
This thesis sets out to explore issues arising from the charity legislative and customary environment and its effects on the ways in which our society and economy function. Although some charities may appear prominently in this thesis, it is not intended to be an attack on any charity, or on the concept of charity, and nor is it in search of scandal.
The contention of this thesis is that the legislative environment which has grown up to support charities is undermining our society and economy in a variety of ways, which include taking over sectors of the economy, exporting surplus out of communities, reducing the tax base of communities, and deepening regional inequity.
The starting date is 1993 and the Charities Act.
PhD Proposal: Mendlesohn
Introduction: What the public thinks a charity is, versus the wide number of activities and bodies that claim charitable status. This thesis will then focus on the most popular understandings of charities, those that support the poor, animals, children, health care etc. It will not look at Hospitals, Public Schools, museums and other similar organisations that have charitable status
Chapter 1: The cultural, legislative and financial environment from 1993 to the present.
This chapter will explore the rise of charity culture from the 1993 Charity Act, focusing in particular on Tony Blair’s desire for a more religious environment, the interaction with the contracting out culture, and the role of David Cameron’s Big Society in bringing many charities into direct engagement with the state at national and local levels, shifting the position of charity in the popular imagination from the provider of extras, to a key partner in the welfare state.
⁃
Chapter 2: The Charity on the High Street
This chapter will consider the emergence of the charity shop as a feature of the British landscape.
The chapter will consider the advantages granted to charities when they open such shops, the extension of the temporary lease to support the high street to the current situation where the charity shop(s) are a key part of the British high street.
The chapter will chart the expansion of charity shops into different products—second hand clothes, furniture, books, Christmas cards—and their impact on independent retailers (which will include the school jumble sale, the role of the second hand market for immigrant traders, and—I predict—in the near future the car wash). One element of this chapter will consider the more recent development of on line second hand trading and how charities have responded to this.
The role of charity contracting in undermining local other providers or those employed directly by the council,
Grants and how they distort priorities, render charities dependent and insecure
It will also explore whether large charities are squeezing out small, local charities.
Chapter 3: Charities and Regional Inequity.
The charity landscape is uneven. Increasingly it’s being noted that more prosperous areas have more charities; that even within a charity, more prosperous areas may have better stocked charity shops.
The chapter will explore the role of charity shops and other enterprises on the local tax base,
This chapter will also explore the extent to which charity shops — particularly those engaged in non local work— are exporting local resources in much the same way as any large retailer. (Large charities on the high streets. Colonialist economics )
Chapter 4: Employment and Engagement in the charity sector.
The affect of charity shops on the retail work available versus that if independent shops were present.
Women leave the workforce in droves around the age of 55. Much of this is not voluntary. When women (but not men) leave the workforce they become a resource for the charities. The result is that women in particular are caught in a catch 22 in which paid work dries up, but unpaid is actively solicited.
The pressure on charities to keep wages low; Contracting as a subversion of mission, contracting undermine charity (this doesn’t fit)
Officers v volunteers: who drives policy when the volunteers are related to/are beneficiaries?
Harassment, bullying and other bad behaviours in ‘nice’ environments.
The Trustee model as a Victorian ideology and its consequences (everything about us, without us).
Chapter 5: Exemptions, when charities wish to select what part of the body politic they work with.
Religious discrimination
The National Insurance argument, and minimum wage: when preserving a charity is more important than doing away with its need. (The opposition to the National Insurance increase: charities need to start thinking hard about why they should be treated differently when many do not benefit tax payers in this country, have specialist religious discriminations, etc); charities may serve a tiny population but demand relief that affects the tax base of a much wider population
Chapter 6: I am not convinced by this chapter. I think it heads off in a very different direction.
This final chapter will focus on the way in which “its for charity” can obscure ethical issues and lead to ‘bad behaviour’; un thought through ideologies, and the consequence of charitable structures. Again, this is not intended as an attack on any charity, but it does raise the issue that too tight a focus on ‘its for charity’ can be dangerous.
Legacies: On 29th March 2022, Third Force Newsapplauded the rise in legacies. It stopped me dead in my tracks. That rise was —almost certainly—due to Covid deaths. It was work remarking, but celebrating it seemed out of turn. Meanwhile, I had a number of friends who had cared for relatives, only to find themselves cut out of their wills. Expand
When a change in policy or law would challenge the business model. Hospices and opposition to assisted dying
Animal charities (not sure how to frame this.
• When the charity is dependent on the problem. Greyhound racing
• When the charity may be creating a problem: the import of overseas strays while our kennels are overwhelmed.
• When the charity has too narrow a definition of its beneficiaries: the RSPCA’s ’surrender for medical aid’ policy.
Proposal title: With the Best of Intentions. Society, Economy and the British Charity Landscape.
Abstract:
This thesis sets out to explore issues arising from the charity legislative and customary environment and its effects on the ways in which our society and economy function. Although some charities may appear prominently in this thesis, it is not intended to be an attack on any charity, or on the concept of charity, and nor is it in search of scandal.
The contention of this thesis is that the legislative environment which has grown up to support charities is undermining our society and economy in a variety of ways, which include taking over sectors of the economy, exporting surplus out of communities, reducing the tax base of communities, and deepening regional inequity.
The starting date is 1993 and the Charities Act.
PhD Proposal: Mendlesohn
Introduction: What the public thinks a charity is, versus the wide number of activities and bodies that claim charitable status. This thesis will then focus on the most popular understandings of charities, those that support the poor, animals, children, health care etc. It will not look at Hospitals, Public Schools, museums and other similar organisations that have charitable status
Chapter 1: The cultural, legislative and financial environment from 1993 to the present.
This chapter will explore the rise of charity culture from the 1993 Charity Act, focusing in particular on Tony Blair’s desire for a more religious environment, the interaction with the contracting out culture, and the role of David Cameron’s Big Society in bringing many charities into direct engagement with the state at national and local levels, shifting the position of charity in the popular imagination from the provider of extras, to a key partner in the welfare state.
⁃
Chapter 2: The Charity on the High Street
This chapter will consider the emergence of the charity shop as a feature of the British landscape.
The chapter will consider the advantages granted to charities when they open such shops, the extension of the temporary lease to support the high street to the current situation where the charity shop(s) are a key part of the British high street.
The chapter will chart the expansion of charity shops into different products—second hand clothes, furniture, books, Christmas cards—and their impact on independent retailers (which will include the school jumble sale, the role of the second hand market for immigrant traders, and—I predict—in the near future the car wash). One element of this chapter will consider the more recent development of on line second hand trading and how charities have responded to this.
The role of charity contracting in undermining local other providers or those employed directly by the council,
Grants and how they distort priorities, render charities dependent and insecure
It will also explore whether large charities are squeezing out small, local charities.
Chapter 3: Charities and Regional Inequity.
The charity landscape is uneven. Increasingly it’s being noted that more prosperous areas have more charities; that even within a charity, more prosperous areas may have better stocked charity shops.
The chapter will explore the role of charity shops and other enterprises on the local tax base,
This chapter will also explore the extent to which charity shops — particularly those engaged in non local work— are exporting local resources in much the same way as any large retailer. (Large charities on the high streets. Colonialist economics )
Chapter 4: Employment and Engagement in the charity sector.
The affect of charity shops on the retail work available versus that if independent shops were present.
Women leave the workforce in droves around the age of 55. Much of this is not voluntary. When women (but not men) leave the workforce they become a resource for the charities. The result is that women in particular are caught in a catch 22 in which paid work dries up, but unpaid is actively solicited.
The pressure on charities to keep wages low; Contracting as a subversion of mission, contracting undermine charity (this doesn’t fit)
Officers v volunteers: who drives policy when the volunteers are related to/are beneficiaries?
Harassment, bullying and other bad behaviours in ‘nice’ environments.
The Trustee model as a Victorian ideology and its consequences (everything about us, without us).
Chapter 5: Exemptions, when charities wish to select what part of the body politic they work with.
Religious discrimination
The National Insurance argument, and minimum wage: when preserving a charity is more important than doing away with its need. (The opposition to the National Insurance increase: charities need to start thinking hard about why they should be treated differently when many do not benefit tax payers in this country, have specialist religious discriminations, etc); charities may serve a tiny population but demand relief that affects the tax base of a much wider population
Chapter 6: I am not convinced by this chapter. I think it heads off in a very different direction.
This final chapter will focus on the way in which “its for charity” can obscure ethical issues and lead to ‘bad behaviour’; un thought through ideologies, and the consequence of charitable structures. Again, this is not intended as an attack on any charity, but it does raise the issue that too tight a focus on ‘its for charity’ can be dangerous.
Legacies: On 29th March 2022, Third Force Newsapplauded the rise in legacies. It stopped me dead in my tracks. That rise was —almost certainly—due to Covid deaths. It was work remarking, but celebrating it seemed out of turn. Meanwhile, I had a number of friends who had cared for relatives, only to find themselves cut out of their wills. Expand
When a change in policy or law would challenge the business model. Hospices and opposition to assisted dying
Animal charities (not sure how to frame this.
• When the charity is dependent on the problem. Greyhound racing
• When the charity may be creating a problem: the import of overseas strays while our kennels are overwhelmed.
• When the charity has too narrow a definition of its beneficiaries: the RSPCA’s ’surrender for medical aid’ policy.
