Beveridge and voluntary action in Britain and the wider British world

Melanie Oppenheimer, Nicholas Deakin

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781526184016
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

The relationship between the state and the voluntary sector has changed significantly since 1948 when Beveridge's major report, Voluntary Action, was first published. Sixty years later, a group of historians analyse and reassess the impact of Beveridge's ideas about voluntary action for social advance in this timely volume. Using examples from the UK, Australasia and Canada, this book clearly articulates the importance and significance of Beveridge's ideas on voluntary action within an international context.
With the emphasis of governments on the importance of the voluntary or 'third sector' and the development of policies and practices to enhance social capital, build civil society and engage communities, this book will be invaluable for those interested in how the third sector has evolved over time. It will be of interest to historians, social policy researchers, political theorists, economists and educationalists.

Table of contents

• Front matter
• Contents
• List of figures
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 Beveridge and voluntary action
• Chapter 2 Voluntarism, the state and public–private partnerships in Beveridge’s social thought
• Chapter 3 ‘The night’s insane dream of power’: William Beveridge on the uses and abuses of state power
• Chapter 4 The war and charity
• Chapter 5 ‘Organisations for brotherly aid in misfortune’: Beveridge the friendly societies
• Chapter 6 Beveridge in the Antipodes: the 1948 tour
• Chapter 7 Voluntary politics: the sector’s political function from Beveridge to Deakin
• Chapter 8 Youth in action? British young people and voluntary service, 1958–70
• Chapter 9 Voluntary action and the rural poor in the age of globalisation
• Chapter 10 Voluntary action in Britain since Beveridge
• Chapter 11 Beveridge, the voluntary principle and New Zealand’s‘social laboratory’
• Chapter 12 After Beveridge: the state and voluntary action in Australia
• Chapter 13 The Great White North and voluntary action: Canada’srelationship with Beveridge, social welfare and social justice
• Index