Re-visiting the barriers to participation in mutual aid

2000

Abstract This paper evaluates self-help and mutual aid as tools for tackling social exclusion and promoting social cohesion in deprived urban neighbourhoods.

Using new empirical data from the UK focused on mutual aid and reciprocity, the purpose of this paper is to offer robust challenges to the logic and dominance of the commodification thesis. In finding mutual aid to be a significant coping strategy to get household tasks completed, in both affluent and deprived communities, the paper addresses the important question as to “why” mutual aid is so pervasive. Using qualitative insights as to “why” respondents engaged in mutual aid and reciprocity a considered response to this question, revolving around the instinctive and social nature of reciprocity, is made.

1978

Government (RES-593-25-0006). We would like to thank our funders for their support, and also the Economic and Social Data Service for providing access to the Living Costs and Food survey data. Thanks are also due to James Bilson for his work compiling the dataset. The analysis and commentary in the report are the sole responsibility of the authors. The Centre for Market and Public Organisation (CMPO) is a leading research centre, combining expertise in economics, geography and law. Our objective is to study the intersection between the public and private sectors of the economy, and in particular to understand the right way to organise and deliver public services. The Centre aims to develop research, contribute to the public debate and inform policy‐making. The ESRC Centre for Charitable Giving and Philanthropy (CGAP) is the first academic centre in the UK dedicated to research on charitable giving and philanthropy. Three main research strands focus on individual and business giving,...

2000

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is draw out some policy lessons from a study of selfhelp activity amongst 200 households in deprived urban neighbourhoods of Southampton. Commencing with a critique of the popular prejudice that promoting self-help should be opposed in case it leads to a demise of formal welfare provision, the paper then interrogates the empirical evidence to understand and explain the nature and extent of such work in deprived neighbourhoods.

2021

This book conceptualises the role of charity to people who are poor in wealthy countries and outlines a set of practical and conceptual ideas for how it could be reimagined. Despite professionalised welfare states and strong economies, in many advanced industrialised nations, charity continues to play a major role in the lives of people who are poor. Extending what we know about how neoliberalism drives a decayed welfare state that outsources welfare provisioning to charities and community initiatives, this book asks how can we understand and conceptualise society's willingness to engage in charitable acts towards the poor, and how can charity be reimagined to contribute to justice in an unjust society? Through interrogating multiple data sources, including government datasets, survey datasets, media analyses, and ethnographic data, this book shows that charity is not well-suited to addressing the material dimension of poverty. It argues the need for a revised model of charity with the capacity to contribute to social solidarity that bridges social divisions and is inclusive of the poor. Presenting a model for reimaging charity which enables reciprocity and active contributions from recipients and providers, this book shows how power imbalances flowing from the unidirectional provision of charity can be reduced, allowing opportunities for reciprocal care that foster both well-being and solidarity. This book will be of interest to all scholars and students of social policy, public policy, social welfare, sociology, and social work.

DEFRA, 2014

This is the report of a research project looking at available evidence on what ‘food aid’ is available to households in the UK, who takes it up and why. ‘Food aid’ covers a range of different types of support, including short term help available from food banks and soup runs, as well as food provided as part of community care such as ‘Meals on Wheels’. The research was undertaken by a group of researchers led by the University of Warwick. It provides an understanding of the wide range of mainly charitable organisations providing help of this sort to their communities.

2018

In this study, we investigate why individuals in need of social support refrain from asking for help from social service providers in the third sector. This phenomenon of non-take-up of social support is still under-explored, and our theoretical understanding of it is highly fragmented. Based on psychological, socio-epidemiological , socio-cultural, and public administration research, we distil potential determinants of non-take-up of social support. Based on 55 narratives (individual interviews) and two focus groups (n = 16) in the Dutch municipality of The Hague, we examine empirical evidence for these determinants. Our results indicate that (perceived) bureaucratic obstacles and the desire to maintain one's (feeling of) independence are critical barriers to help-seeking behaviour for social support from third sector social service providers. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and their implications for practice and propose new research avenues.

2011

Abstract Previous studies have suggested that community self-help in affluent populations revolves around engagement in formal community-based groups, whilst the participatory culture of deprived populations is more orientated towards informal (one-to-one) community participation.

European Societies, 2005

This paper examines the extent to which families living in precariousness in contemporary European cities draw on social support as a key resource in their struggle against poverty. The comparative observations and analysis presented draw on national level survey data as well as local level qualitative data collected in selected European neighbourhoods, under the auspices of the BETWIXT project. 1 More specifically, our analysis focuses on the active modes and mechanisms for requesting and providing solidarity and support at times of familial crisis. The comparison of the Irish and Italian experiences illuminates the persistent involvement of households in informal support provision, even as family structures alter and welfare regimes change. We demonstrate the dynamics underlying the phenomenon of social support among precarious families living in deprived urban areas in the cities of Dublin and Turin. We address the dialectics between agency and structural constraint by examining whether or not family and/or social support networks are reinforced or further weakened by factors such as economic hardship, unemployment, and neighbourhood dereliction. We conclude that the effects of precariousness are multiple and contradictory: precariousness can create anomie and individualisation but it can also act as a spur to greater community cohesion. Such cohesion can also be expressed