I tentatively offer here in the space of this blog\u00c2\u00a0some of the definitions that Lana and I have been working on. \u00c2\u00a0Since the blog has so far served as a platform for emerging (and not necessarily fully formed) ideas, it seems an appropriate place to share our work. \u00c2\u00a0But I would like to further emphasize that this list represents only a first attempt toward definition, and that we look forward to much revision and sustained conversation on this subject. (and maybe one day we will remove this post from the blog so that it doesn’t live forever as a first edition….?)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Key aspects<\/strong>:\u00c2\u00a0 donating funds for humanitarian purposes<\/p>\n Philanthropy is the distribution or donation of private funds for public and\/or humanitarian purposes.\u00c2\u00a0 It is traditionally an activity undertaken only by the wealthy and upper class, but in our usage philanthropy includes even the smallest donations, such as those to a microloan to Kiva.\u00c2\u00a0 We might more productively use the term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153donation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d here, but I do not want to neglect the important historical connections between charity and philanthropy, particularly with regard to women and Christianity.\u00c2\u00a0 In terms of further theory, Ostrower suggests that philanthropy is connected to the broad American values of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153individualism, private initiative, suspicion of governmental power and bureaucracy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (132).<\/p>\n Key aspects<\/strong>:\u00c2\u00a0 unpaid donation of time<\/p>\n Volunteering is the activity of donating one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time, effort and talent to a need or cause without profiting monetarily.\u00c2\u00a0 Volunteering largely takes place through non-profit organizations or projects and is undertaken to be of benefit to the community and the volunteer.\u00c2\u00a0 In some definitions of volunteering it is important to note that the volunteer is acting of their own free will and without coercion, although there may be incentives in the workplace or the classroom.\u00c2\u00a0 Related terms:\u00c2\u00a0 community service, service learning.<\/p>\n Key aspects<\/strong>: emergency assistance for the needy<\/p>\n Charitable organizations provide immediate assistance to members of society who are systemically disadvantaged, such as those who are poor, diseased, or homeless.\u00c2\u00a0 Such organizations are often seen to provide \u00e2\u20ac\u0153emergency relief\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for these social problems rather than working toward structural change.\u00c2\u00a0 Although charitable organizations are often criticized for failing to address the root cause of a problem (for instance, in providing food for the hungry rather than lobbying for legislation that would end hunger), we want to be clear that we do not value activism over charity.\u00c2\u00a0 Both forms of civic engagement serve a purpose, and we are not arguing that all charity should become activist. \u00c2\u00a0Border case:\u00c2\u00a0 causumerism<\/p>\n Individuals sometimes resist labeling their work as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153charity\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because of its connotations as being limited in scope, temporary, or belittling to those they seek to aid.\u00c2\u00a0 The harshest critics argue that charitable organizations divert resources from actual social change in the causes of poverty, and that individuals become dependent on charity.<\/p>\n Key aspects<\/strong>:\u00c2\u00a0 intentional action toward ending social injustice<\/p>\n Activists take intentional action to change the larger social forces that lead to inequality, injustice, or harm to society.\u00c2\u00a0 Their projects can be focused on just one facet of a social problem and may be limited in scope, but their actions are centered around a cause or set of causes and lead to a goal of achieving structural change. \u00c2\u00a0As Bickford and Reynolds state, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153activist efforts seek to change the social climate and structures that make volunteerism necessary\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (238).\u00c2\u00a0 Activist work is argued to be coextensive with the idea of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153being political,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d since both activism and political actions have the goal of remedying social and economic disparities in society.\u00c2\u00a0 Some examples of social causes that activists have organized around:\u00c2\u00a0 abortion, AIDS, animal rights, antinuclear, corporate, environmental, gay and lesbian, legal, Native American, race, religious\/spiritual, student\/youth, women\/feminism, and worker activism. \u00c2\u00a0There are activist individuals, groups, organizations, and movements.\u00c2\u00a0 Related terms:\u00c2\u00a0 social movement.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Border case:\u00c2\u00a0 slacktivism, fan activism.<\/p>\n Individuals may resist labeling themselves activists because of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153negative, radical connotations in our culture\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Bickford and Reynolds, 229) or because they do not not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153consider advocating for social change necessary, effective, or interesting\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (238).<\/p>\n Through a close examination of the case of women who organize around the issue of breast cancer, we can see some of the complexities that surround these terms with regard to self-definition. \u00c2\u00a0We also see \u00c2\u00a0a great example of the fluidity of each category, since a single organization and its many members can encompass every term in one way or another.<\/p>\n Blackstone (1995) studies female volunteers at the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as a way of challenging the boundaries between activist and volunteer work. \u00c2\u00a0The women that Blackstone meets clearly fall into the category of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153volunteer\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmost frequently, women donate their time and energy toward organizing Race for the Cure events to raise money for cancer research.\u00c2\u00a0 The organization also certainly has a relationship to philanthropy, given that it is largely funded by charitable giving.\u00c2\u00a0 But it is less clear where the organizations and its volunteers fall with relation to charity and activism.\u00c2\u00a0 When we inspect their volunteerism on a closer level, we see that the individual women involved with the Foundation have very different relationships to these terms and concepts.<\/p>\n Many women claim that they volunteer for the purpose of meeting and socializing with like-minded women, rather than for any political or charitable cause.\u00c2\u00a0 They speak of their work toward eradicating breast cancer as being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fair\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153political,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d since they believed taking a political stand could be contentious and thus should be avoided.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet the organization\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work can be seen as distinctly charitable as well as activist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcharitable since they are providing funds for equipment in clinics and treatment for women with cancer, and activist since they are educating and empowering women to advocate for better medical treatment as a response to an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unfriendly health care system\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (p. 360).<\/p>\n This test case reminds us that self-definition can be influenced by the connotation and history of each term, but that it still can be possible to pinpoint how we believe each arm of the foundadtion resides within our definitions.<\/p>\n There are many slippery cases of participatory culture that still defy neat categorization.\u00c2\u00a0 For instance, what about \u00e2\u20ac\u0153causumerism,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as in purchasing a RED brand t-shirt from The Gap, or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153slactivism,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as in changing your Facebook profile picture to indicate that you support a social movement?\u00c2\u00a0 In the case of causumerism\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s politicized consumption, it seems that there is a relationship to the work of charities.\u00c2\u00a0 Indeed, the purpose of the Product(RED) campaign is to raise money for HIV\/AIDS in Africa, so in that sense purchasing a t-shirt for the cause\u00e2\u20ac\u201dregardless of whether or not you wear it and then feel connected to a movement\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis the same as donating money to a charity.\u00c2\u00a0 In the case of the slactivist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of microcommunication on Facebook for participating in a social movement, it seems that one is merely gesturing toward a systemic problem that needs to be changed rather than actively working to change it.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet this distinction between how large or public an action needs to be is one plagued by vagueness.\u00c2\u00a0 If changing one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Facebook status isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t effective enough, what about wearing a sandwich board on a busy street?\u00c2\u00a0 What about wearing a sandwich board in front of a room full of legislators? \u00c2\u00a0I believe an examination of these and other border cases will challenge us to really\u00c2\u00a0interrogate\u00c2\u00a0the boundaries and slippages of our terminology.<\/p>\n (a bit modified and streamlined since the last readings post)<\/p>\n Ostrower, Francie. Why the Wealthy Give:\u00c2\u00a0 The Culture of Elite Philanthropy.<\/em> Princeton, NJ:\u00c2\u00a0 Princeton University Press, 1997.<\/p>\n Friedman, Lawrence J. and Mark D. McGarvie. Charity, Philanthropy, and Civility in American History.<\/em> Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003.<\/p>\n McCutcheon, Robert.\u00c2\u00a0 Giving: Charity and Philanthropy in History.<\/em> Transaction Publishers, 1994.<\/p>\n McCarthy, Kathleen D. \u00c2\u00a0Lady Bountiful Revisited: \u00c2\u00a0Women, Philanthropy, and Power.<\/em> Rutgers University Press, 1990.<\/p>\n Bickford and Reynolds (2002) \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Activism and Service-Learning: Reframing Volunteerism as Acts of Dissent\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition and Culture<\/em> 2(2)<\/p>\n Blackstone, Amy. \u00c2\u00a0(2004) \u00c2\u00a0“It’s Just about Being Fair: \u00c2\u00a0Activism and the Politics of Volunteering in the Breast Cancer Movement. \u00c2\u00a0Gender and Society <\/em>18(3) pp. 350-368<\/p>\n Shragge, Eric. \u00c2\u00a0(2000) \u00c2\u00a0Activism and social change: lessons for community and local organizing.<\/em><\/p>\n Eliasoph, Nina. \u00c2\u00a0(1998) \u00c2\u00a0Avoiding Politics: \u00c2\u00a0How Americans Produce Apathy in Everyday Life<\/em><\/p>\n Katz, Michael B.\u00c2\u00a0 (1996)\u00c2\u00a0 In the Shadow of the Poorhouse:\u00c2\u00a0 A Social History of Welfare in America.\u00c2\u00a0 New York, Perseus Books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I tentatively offer here in the space of this blog\u00c2\u00a0some of the definitions that Lana and I have been working on. \u00c2\u00a0Since the blog has so far served as a platform for emerging (and not necessarily fully formed) ideas, it seems an appropriate place to share our work. \u00c2\u00a0But I would like to further emphasize […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/civicpaths.net\/groupblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Volunteering<\/h2>\n
Charity Work<\/h2>\n
Activism<\/h2>\n
Example:\u00c2\u00a0 Breast Cancer<\/h2>\n
Border cases<\/h2>\n
Sources<\/h2>\n