De-coupling the state and the third sector? The ‘Big Society’ as a spontaneous order

Macmillan, Rob (2013) De-coupling the state and the third sector? The ‘Big Society’ as a spontaneous order. Working Paper. University of Birmingham, Birmingham.

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Abstract

Despite a largely indifferent and otherwise sceptical public reception, the ‘Big Society’ has remained a central feature of the Conservative-led Coalition’s project, with David Cameron referring to it as his passion. However, the Big Society has been a rather elusive concept. Academics and commentators seek to understand what it means, what it signals, and what it might imply. It is viewed by critics as providing political cover for the Coalition’s deficit reduction programme and as a Trojan horse for privatisation. Others argue that it represents a significant recasting of the relationship between citizens and the state, as well as providing new opportunities and spaces for voluntary and community activity, recast as social action in civil society. This paper asks what the Big Society might mean for the ‘third sector’ of voluntary organisations, community groups and social enterprises, and in particular how the changing relationship with the state might be understood. The previous Labour government’s approach has been characterised as the development of a closer ‘partnership’ between state and the third sector. Whilst there are important continuities from this time, a partial decoupling may now be underway in the new political and economic context. Theoretically, this might signal a shift away from the idea of interdependence between the state and the third sector, and towards a model involving separate spheres: from partnership to an emergent ‘trial separation’. To explore this dynamic the paper draws on Friedrich Hayek’s theory of ‘spontaneous order’, suggesting that the Big Society involves some implicit Hayekian assumptions. It concludes by considering the implications of regarding the third sector in such terms.

Type of Work:

Monograph (Working Paper)

School/Faculty:

Colleges (2008 onwards) > College of Social Sciences

Department:

Third Sector Research Centre

References:

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Date:

01 July 2013

Series/Collection Name:

TSRC Working Paper Series

Keywords:

Third sector, Big Society, Coalition Government, Hayek, spontaneous order, independence.

Subjects:

H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)

Related URLs:

URL	URL Type
http://tsrc.ac.uk	Organisation

Funders:

Economic and Social Research Council, Office for Civil Society, Barrow Cadbury Trust

Third Sector Research Centre

ID Code:

1798

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