Join us Thursday, November 29, at 12:30 pm for a discussion with:

Susan M. Chambré, Professor Emerita of Sociology, Baruch College, CUNY

Historical Trends in Volunteerism: Continuities and Discontinuities in Rates, Styles and Motivations

Abstract. Discussions of volunteering in the U.S. commonly accept the idea that volunteering has evolved in a linear fashion from a traditional, communally oriented and altruistic activity into a more opportunistic and self-reflexive one.  Discussions of civil society organizations suggest several features of traditional volunteerism: volunteers were highly committed, altruistic, a significant source of unpaid labor and participated in cross-class organizations. This presentation considers two major questions concerning the idea that volunteering has changed. First, does historical evidence provide support for a “golden age” of volunteering with broad participation and a shift from traditional volunteers to a dominant pattern of reflexive, self interested and episodic volunteering?  Second, what have been the social, cultural and institutional forces that influenced patterns and styles of volunteering at different periods of American history? This paper addresses these questions based on a review of historical and contemporary studies of communities, voluntary associations, unions, social movements, charities and events that mobilized volunteers. It describes numerous ways that volunteering has not changed but one important difference: contemporary volunteering is more transactional and motivated by a desire to “give back” or “give forward” to organizations that benefit oneself or one’s family and friends.  The data also point to a relative inelasticity of both the supply and demand for volunteers except when rapid social changes and events like disasters, epidemics and broad-based social movements mobilize volunteers.

Meets in room 5401, Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, the Graduate Center.

Join us Thursday, November 1, at 12:30 pm, for a discussion with:

Yang Li and  You Fei

Does Enforcement of China’s Overseas NGO Law Affect US-based NGOs in China?

The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Administration of Activities of Overseas Nongovernmental Organizations (ONGO Law), which came into effect on January 1, 2017, has generated wide concerns and fierce criticisms among China and international civil society. What is the influence of ONGO Law enforcement on US ONGOs operating in China? Based on the public information of Ministry of Public Security, there are 355 ONGOs offices registered and 644 temporary activities filed as of March 31 2018, and about 22 percent of the registered ONGOs are US-based NGOs. This paper explores the influence of ONGO Law enforcement on ONGOs by empirical analysis, based on interviews with 12 executives of US-based NGOs whose headquarters are located at New York. We discuss the influence of ONGO Law enforcement on the operations of organizations, the difference between their expectation and practical implementation, the challenges and opportunities they encounter, and their suggestions for potential ONGOs who plan to enter into China. We conclude that ONGO Law enforcement accelerates the institutionalization and internationalization of nonprofit sector in China. ONGOs including US-based ones are not simply passive law abiders, they also actively operate to redefine their roles and relationships in societal space through employing a wide range of levers.

We will be meeting at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, room 5401

Join us on Thursday, November 15, at 12:30, for a discussion with

Mary Roldán, Dorothy Epstein Professor of Latin American History, Hunter College, CUNY Graduate Center

Foundation(al) Fictions: Corporate Philanthropy, the Catholic Church, and the Alliance for Progress in Colombia

Efforts undertaken by the private sector in the U.S. and Colombia to promote partnerships between private enterprise and non-governmental groups, with the support of the Catholic Church, prompted the unprecedented creation of private philanthropic foundations between 1960 and 1967. Using the specific case of the Colombian mass-media based education and rural leadership training network, Radio Sutatenza/ Cultural Popular Action (ACPO), I examine how private, non-denominational philanthropic foundations became the principal conduits through which international development loans and funding sponsored by agencies like the Alliance for Progress and USAID in the 1960s and 1970s were funneled to education, health, housing and technical training programs affiliated with the Catholic Church and aimed at pre-empting the spread of communism.

We will be meeting at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, room 5401

Join us on Thursday, December 13, at 12:30 pm, for a discussion with:

Sarah Sunn Bush, associate professor of political science at Yale

Density and Decline in the Founding of International NGOs in the United States

It is now commonplace for scholars to note that the number of international non- governmental organizations (INGOs) has exploded. But in recent years, the growth rate of INGOs globally and in the United States has stagnated. We argue that this stagnation can best be explained by changes in the environment in which INGOs work. Specifically, the now-dense population environment discourages new INGOs from be- ing founded, while also encouraging competition. Analysis of a new, comprehensive dataset on American INGOs between 1992 and 2012 supports the argument, as do case studies of trends within the environmental conservation and democracy assistance sectors. The analysis suggests that debates about INGO cooperation and competition overlook a key environmental factor that varies across and within populations of organizations: density. We draw out the implications of this approach for contemporary global governance.

We will be meeting in the Political Science thesis room: 5200.07

Join us Wednesday, October 3, at 12:30 pm, for a discussion with:

Sujatha Fernandes, Professor of Political Economy and Sociology at the University of Sydney

Out of the Home, Into the House: Storytelling and Philanthropy in Domestic Worker Legislative Campaigns

In the contemporary era we have seen a proliferation of storytelling activities, from the phenomenon of TED talks and Humans of New York to a plethora of story-coaching agencies and consultants. My talk examines this culture of storytelling that presents carefully curated narratives with pre-determined storylines as a tool of philanthropy, statecraft, and advocacy. This talk will focus on the use of testimonies in the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights campaign in New York and the ways that philanthropic foundations shaped the storytelling advocacy approach of the campaign.

Sujatha Fernandes is a Professor of Political Economy and Sociology at the University of Sydney. Previously she was a Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York. Her research combines social theory and political economy with in-depth, engaged ethnography of global social and labor movements. Fernandes is the author of Cuba Represent! Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures (Duke University Press, 2006), Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chávez’s Venezuela (Duke University Press, 2010), and Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation (Verso, 2011). Her latest book entitled, Curated Stories: The Uses and Misuses of Storytelling, was published by Oxford University Press in 2017.

The Chapter 4 of Curated Stories is available here through Oxford Scholarship Online

Join us in  Sociology thesis room – 6112.01, 6th floor.

The Civil Society Workshop will meet on Thursday, February 22, at 12:30 pm for a discussion with

Sarah Tansey, Research Manager, Human Rights Funders Network

“International Funding for Human Rights: Who Are the Donors and Where Does the Money Go?“

Abstract: The Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN) is a global network of approximately 1,500 individual grantmakers committed to advancing human rights through effective philanthropy. It was founded in 1994 by a small group of philanthropists and foundation staff who wanted to share their strategies and what they were learning, discuss field-wide trends, and collaborate. In order to inform funding decisions in the field, HRFN and Foundation Center created the Advancing Human Rights: Knowledge Tools for Funders data set and research initiative. Now tracking over $12 billion and over 1000 funders, the Advancing Human Rights initiative maps the evolving state of global human rights funding through dynamic, interactive tools designed to help funders and advocates share knowledge, identify potential partners, and increase their effectiveness. This conversation will cover the full life cycle of the research, from its initial goals and methodology to its current findings to its yet-to-be-determined future, for academics as a research opportunity and as a chance to provide feedback.

We will meet in room 6112.01 at the Department of Sociology!

The Civil Society Workshop will meet on Thursday, April 12, at 12:30 pm for a discussion with

Katherine Chen, Associate Professor, Sociology, City College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

“Bounded Relationality: How Governmental, Human Service, and Advocacy Organizations Create Consumers – and Elicit Relational Work – in the Social Insurance Market”

Abstract: Using observations of US advocacy, human service, and governmental organizations’ talks on social insurance, Professor Chen shows how market exchanges are facilitated by what she calls bounded relationality.  This concept synthesizes (1) Simon’s bounded rationality, which describes how organizations ease people’s difficulties with decision-making and (2) Zelizer’s relational work, which emphasizes how social relations animate market exchanges.  The studied organizations attempted to acculturate older adults and their agents – social workers, health care workers, advocates, and caregivers – to three consumer roles in the neoliberalized market: “information-gathering and processing consumers,” “savvy information-seekers,” and “watchful monitors.”   However, discussions among audiences revealed disjunctures between these expected consumer roles and people’s actions, revealing people’s reliance upon relational work to ease complex decision-making.  Professor Chen argues that markets depend upon bounded relationality in which organizations and social relations help people make complex exchanges.

We will meet in room 6107