Showing papers in "Society in 2003"

Sector-bending: Blurring lines between nonprofit and for-profit

Abstract: J. Gregory Dees is adjunct professor of social entrepreneurship and nonprofit management at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. He beads the Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke. Beth Battle Anderson, senior research associate at Fuqua, is managing director of CASE.

Inside Venture Philanthropy

Abstract: The rhetoric of the New Democrats and the practices of Silicon Valley were ultimately wed together in the field of philanthropy, and the result is what is generally termed venture philanthropy. Venture philanthropy’s approach and language have penetrated the private and community foundation world, the small giving circles and clubs that help guide new donors, and the territory of corporate philanthropy. The challenge of getting public schools to perform better has been taken up by many of the high-tech entrepreneurs who have shown an affinity for the venture philanthropy model and for education reforms across the country. At the core, venture philanthropy’s search for new philanthropic tools has enlivened the field. After all, the problems of traditional philanthropy are clear and undeniable. As a set of practical philanthropic innovations, however, venture philanthropy’s contribution to the field remains far harder to ascertain.

Genetics and Citizenship

Abstract: This chapter explores some of the tensions around new genetic citizenship as it is articulated in professional discourses and practices in the clinic and wider policy making networks, focusing in particular upon changes and continuities between past and present. It draws on empirical studies of professional practice to illustrate some of the continuities between past and present that tend to be overlooked by scholars whose work is framed by a focus on transformation. Genetic information which is presented in certain terms, genetic counselling which is explicitly directive and elitist and antidemocratic aspects of policy-making about genetics are less likely to be considered when transformations are privileged. When one turns to consider citizenship in its broader sense of participation in policy-making, there are similar trends to those outlined above. The chapter discusses the rights and responsibilities in the clinic, but also in the wider discourse of public involvement in policy-making about genetics.

Faith in communities: A solid investment

Abstract: "FBOs" ­­ faith­based organizations ­­ are hot. Politicians, religious leaders, and media talking heads have all weighed in on President George W. Bush's ambitious "faith­based initiative." This public discussion is useful, for the faith community has long been a major contributor in the national effort to fight poverty and rejuvenate distressed communities, but its role has frequently been neglected. The issue of the faith community's proper place in public square is not only hot, but controversial. Supporters of the Bush initiative assert that FBOs can do a better job than government agencies in curing some of the nation's social ills, such as drug abuse or teen pregnancy. Citing evidence indicating that FBOs are discriminated against or otherwise hindered by government policies, they are demanding reforms. They assert that FBOs often provide a disproportionate amount of social services, compared to the amount of government funding they garner. New public investment strategies should, in their view, be advanced to address this disparity. Many applaud the "charitable choice" guidelines, new rules attached to four federal social welfare programs since 1996, that seek to protect the religious character of FBOs doing business with government. They desire to see these "faith friendly" guidelines attached to other federal programs that underwrite such activities as housing for the low­income elderly and education for at­risk youth. Other supporters worry about direct government funding of FBOs through contracts, but in general do favor strategies aimed at directing greater public and private resources to faith­based "outposts of health and healing" (for example, through changes in the tax code). Critics charge that the faith­based initiative is misguided. Some worry that charitable choice breaches the separation of church and state. Others believe publicly funded FBOs should not be allowed­as charitable choice permits­to discriminate in their hiring on the basis of religion. Still others contend that congregations and faith­based nonprofits will suffer from excessive government entanglement under charitable choice. Some fear a secularization of FBOs' work on the frontlines if FBOs take government money. Supporters and critics both make valid points. But much of their discussion has been "Beltway­centric": too focused on the legislative fortunes of the Bush administration's faith­based initiative on Capitol Hill and neglectful of what is actually happening, "on the streets," across America. A look outside of Washington, away from the political discussions, sheds much­needed light on the issue of faith­based social action. It offers a compelling case for greater investment in "faith in communities" as well as important insights about how to construct government­faith collaboration in ways protective of FBOs and fruitful for the disadvantaged citizens they serve.

Genetic modification and the doubly green revolution

Abstract: In his keynote address to Bio-Malaysia 2002 participants, [Malaysia's Prime Minister] Dr Mahathir said: "We need to establish biotechnology as another pillar in the development of our knowledgebased economy." ... In 1999, Biotek struck a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop and train scientists in areas like genomics, bioinformatics and bioprocessing ... to nurture a group of professionals capable of spearheading the development of [the] biotechnology industry in Malaysia... (R. Sharif, "Building a Biotech Future." The Star, Malaysia, 10 Oct. 2002).

Religious authority in the modern world

Abstract: W~e e Loma Prieta earthquake that shook northrn California in the fall of 1989 was a major geological event, perhaps the most significant of that year. A commenta to r at the time, however, noted that one might interpret that quake as an aftershock of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Such an interpretation, jarring at first, reminds us that geological change is appropriately measured in centuries or even millennia, and an event that occurs today might be connec ted to an underlying tectonic shift whose movements and consequences take many human lifetimes to work themselves out. The same is true in the social world. Some kinds of social change unfold over decades or centuries, and unders tanding events depends in part on placing them within the relevant time span and connect ing them to the appropriate tectonic shifts. Philip Jenkins places the current crisis in the Catholic Church within the context of a decadeslong cultural conflict be tween liberal and conservative Catholics. Without denying the relevance of this context, I would add another.Whatever else it is, this crisis also is one of many quakes produced by a long-term tectonic shift in the fortunes of religious authority in the modern world, a shift in which religious authority's scope becomes ever narrower.A central aspect of this narrowing scope for religious authority is religious professionals' declining capacity to authoritatively make decisions. Consider, concretely, how few binding, socially consequential, decisions religious authorit i e s c l e r g y h a v e the recognized authority to make in institutionally differentiated societies. Do clergy, qua clergy, decide whether some course o f ac t ion was legal or illegal, and the re fo re w h e t h e r a jail s en t ence or fine is imposed?; whe ther some set of symptoms represents health or illness, and therefore whe ther medication is required?; whe the r some object is beautiful or ugly, and therefore whether it will be displayed in a museum?; whe ther some individual is skilled or unskilled, and therefore whether that person is hired for a job?; whether a book is learned or foolish, and therefore whether it is published by a prestigious press? The fewer such decisions religious professionals are called upon to authoritatively make, the narrower the scope of religious authority, and the greater the extent of secularization in a society. From this perspective, one of the notewor thy aspects of recent events in the Catholic Church is the removal of yet another kind of dec is ion-whether a priest has been abusive, and therefore whether to allow him to continue practicing as a pr ies t f rom the sole purview of religious authorities, in this case bishops. Whether the authority over this decision is lost to lay-dominated commissions, courts, or some combinat ion thereof, it represents a narrowing of religious authority in the Catholic Church. This is perhaps a particularly jarring kind of decision-making authority for religious leaders to lose since it involves authority over internal operations of the church, but it nevertheless should be seen in the context of a centuries long trend in the West in the direction of religious authority's declining s c o p e a trend that is not negated or even greatly challenged by the continuing presence of large numbers of believers and religiously observant individuals. Religion may be safe in modernity, but religious authori ty is vulnerable. These events represent a cultural conflict, as Jenkins suggests, but not just a conflict be tween liberals and conservatives, not just a conflict with its roots in the 1960s, and not just a conflict involving Catholics. I would broaden Jenkins's analysis in another way as well.Although he chides interpreters who

The moral basis of Cuban Society

Abstract: The talented Cuban students in the former Soviet Union became dangerous for Castroism because they confirmed first-hand the problems of real socialism and, consequently, that "perestroika" was an experiment that was possible and desirable for the island. "Corruption" hardly causes any scandal in Cuba because it has become routine. The level of moral sanctioning of so-called corruption has practically disappeared, and it will become nil as the true face of "utopia" comes in sight, along with the fraud of "equality" and of "justice." "Corruption" is defined on the basis of a set of requirements that have a two-sided nature: moral and legal. In the case of Castroism, of course, all this is subordinated to the political criteria of the moment and this, to the larger strategy of Fidel Castro's remaining in power. The process of "corruption" given that in the island a code of customs has taken root that is incompatible with the democratic societies that Cuba's future may inspire.

The concept of America

Abstract: I am going to offer you a meditation on the concept of America. It will tell you something about the mood in which I do so, if I tell you that, lately, as I sit and listen to the evening news, I am reminded of Ambrose Bierce’s remark that “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” And it will tell you something about my topic if I remark that this quip of Ambrose Bierce’s does not seem to have lost any of its edge when transposed from the 19th to the 21st century. Here are five more quotations about America—that have yet to lose their edge: