Providing for the Public Good: Corporate–Community Relations in the Era of the Receding Welfare State

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doug Guthrie ◽  
Michael McQuarrie

In his pioneering research on corporate–community ties in Minneapolis–St. Paul, Galaskiewicz (1985a) examined the social conditions that guided corporate philanthropy in a given metropolitan area. Two conditions, however, suggest the need for revisiting the type of research taken on in that original study. First, Galaskiewicz's study lacked a comparative dimension for examining the institutional environments that drive variation across localities. Second, a great deal has changed in the institutional conditions that drive corporate ties to their communities since the 1980s and early 1990s, the most important institutional change coming from the Tax Reform Act of 1986 . We identify two significant factors that contribute to variation in local philanthropic commitments of corporations to the metropolitan communities in which they are headquartered. First, local corporate tax rates increase corporate giving overall, but they drive down corporate commitments to their localities. Second, the local state's involvement in the Low–Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program of 1986 also drives down local corporate giving. Thus, activist states that are successful in capturing the fiscal resources of corporations through a variety of institutional mechanisms end up driving down the philanthropic commitments of the corporations that are headquartered in those localities. We illuminate these relationships through in–depth qualitative research in three case cities and data on a nationally representative sample of 2,776 corporations.

Author(s):  
Livia Menezes Pagotto ◽  
Mariana Xavier Nicolletti ◽  
Mario Monzoni

Research objective: To characterize and to discuss corporate social investment focused on territorial development in Brazil. Theoretical framework: Corporate philanthropy and corporate community relations. Methodology: Narrative approach based on a two-fold data collection strategy: semi-structured interviews and a focus group. Results: Three main narratives to make sense of the role of corporate social investment in fostering territorial development: (i) institutional capabilities and social participation; (ii) and aligning of corporate social investment to public policies; and (iii) shared value and social license to operate. Originality: A comprehensive understanding of the territorial approach for development projects implemented by corporate social investors in Brazil. Theoretical and practical contributions: Contributions to the literature about corporate philanthropy, corporate community relations and, about the territorial development agenda in Brazil. Practical implications on the roles and responsibilities of businesses and its impacts on territorial development and, on the other hand, of the corporate social investor and its contribution to the development of the localities where a company operates.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Billies

The work of the Welfare Warriors Research Collaborative (WWRC), a participatory action research (PAR) project that looks at how low income lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming (LG-BTGNC) people survive and resist violence and discrimination in New York City, raises the question of what it means to make conscientization, or critical consciousness, a core feature of PAR. Guishard's (2009) reconceptualization of conscientization as “moments of consciousness” provides a new way of looking at what seemed to be missing from WWRC's process and analysis. According to Guishard, rather than a singular awakening, critical consciousness emerges continually through interactions with others and the social context. Analysis of the WWRC's process demonstrates that PAR researchers doing “PAR deep” (Fine, 2008)—research in which community members share in all aspects of design, method, analysis and product development—should have an agenda for developing critical consciousness, just as they would have agendas for participation, for action, and for research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 56-66
Author(s):  
Anupam Singh ◽  
Dr. Priyanka Verma

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) earlier applied as corporate philanthropy and has been in practice in India since ages. However, philanthropy in globalised and modern India does not solve the purpose in quantity and quality. Clause 135 of Company Act 2013 created huge hue and cry among the business community in India. As per clause 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, Every company with an annual turnover of 1,000 crore INR ($161 million) and more, or a net worth of 500 crore INR ($80 million) and more, or a net profit as low as five crore INR ($800,000) and more have to spend at least 2% of their average net profit over the previous three years on CSR activities. With the introduction of new Company act 2013 India became the first country in the world to have legislation for compulsory CSR spending. The paper aims at analyzing the motive of making CSR spending mandatory and it also attempts to explain the concept of CSR in the present Indian scenario, the social issues addressed by the Indian corporations, and methodologies adopted by them to address those issues.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhibin Jiang ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Bu Zhong ◽  
Xuebing Qin

BACKGROUND The Covid-19 pandemic had turned the world upside down, but not much is known about how people’s empathy might be affected by the pandemic. OBJECTIVE This study examined 1) how empathy towards others might be influenced by the social support people obtained by using social media; and 2) how the individual demographics (e.g., age, income) may affect empathy. METHODS A national survey (N = 943) was conducted in China in February 2020, in which the participants read three real scenarios about low-income urban workers (Scenario I), small business owners in cities (Scenario II), and farmers in rural areas (Scenario III) who underwent hardship due to COVID-19. After exposure to others’ difficulties in the scenarios, the participants’ empathy and anxiety levels were measured. We also measured the social support they had by using social media. RESULTS Results show that social support not only positively impacted empathy, β = .30, P < .001 for Scenario I, β = .30, P < .001 for Scenario II, and β = .29, P < .001 for Scenario III, but also interacted with anxiety in influencing the degree to which participants could maintain empathy towards others, β = .08, P = .010 for Scenario I, and β = .07, P = .033 for scenario II. Age negatively predicted empathy for Scenario I, β = -.08, P = .018 and Scenario III, β = -.08, P = .009, but not for Scenario II, β = -.03, P = .40. Income levels – low, medium, high – positively predicted empathy for Scenario III, F (2, 940) = 8.10, P < .001, but not for Scenario I, F (2, 940) = 2.14, P = .12, or Scenario II, F (2, 940) = 2.93, P = .06. Participants living in big cities expressed greater empathy towards others for Scenario III, F (2, 940) = 4.03, P =.018, but not for Scenario I, F (2, 940) = .81, P = .45, or Scenario II, F (2, 940) = 1.46, P =.23. CONCLUSIONS This study contributes to the literature by discovering the critical role empathy plays in people’s affective response to others during the pandemic. Anxiety did not decrease empathy. However, those gaining more social support on social media showed more empathy for others. Those who resided in cities with higher income levels were more empathetic during the COVID-19 outbreak. This study reveals that the social support people obtained helped maintain empathy to others, making them resilient in challenging times.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 183449092110257
Author(s):  
Qiong Li ◽  
Chen Deng ◽  
Bin Zuo ◽  
Xiaobin Zhang

This study explored whether vertical position affects social categorization of the rich and the poor. Experiment 1 used high- and low-income occupations as stimuli, and found participants categorized high-income occupations faster when they were presented in the top vertical position compared to the bottom vertical position. In Experiment 2, participants responded using either the “up” or “down” key to categorize high- and low-income occupations, and responded faster to high-income occupations with the “up” key and low-income occupations with the “down” key. In Experiment 3, names identified as belonging to either rich or poor individuals were presented at the top or bottom of a screen, and the results were the same as in Experiments 1 and 2. These findings suggest that social categorization based on wealth involved perceptual simulations of vertical position, and that vertical position affects the social categorization of the rich and the poor.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. e003423
Author(s):  
Dongqing Wang ◽  
Molin Wang ◽  
Anne Marie Darling ◽  
Nandita Perumal ◽  
Enju Liu ◽  
...  

IntroductionGestational weight gain (GWG) has important implications for maternal and child health and is an ideal modifiable factor for preconceptional and antenatal care. However, the average levels of GWG across all low-income and middle-income countries of the world have not been characterised using nationally representative data.MethodsGWG estimates across time were computed using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys Program. A hierarchical model was developed to estimate the mean total GWG in the year 2015 for all countries to facilitate cross-country comparison. Year and country-level covariates were used as predictors, and variable selection was guided by the model fit. The final model included year (restricted cubic splines), geographical super-region (as defined by the Global Burden of Disease Study), mean adult female body mass index, gross domestic product per capita and total fertility rate. Uncertainty ranges (URs) were generated using non-parametric bootstrapping and a multiple imputation approach. Estimates were also computed for each super-region and region.ResultsLatin America and Caribbean (11.80 kg (95% UR: 6.18, 17.41)) and Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (11.19 kg (95% UR: 6.16, 16.21)) were the super-regions with the highest GWG estimates in 2015. Sub-Saharan Africa (6.64 kg (95% UR: 3.39, 9.88)) and North Africa and Middle East (6.80 kg (95% UR: 3.17, 10.43)) were the super-regions with the lowest estimates in 2015. With the exception of Latin America and Caribbean, all super-regions were below the minimum GWG recommendation for normal-weight women, with Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa and Middle East estimated to meet less than 60% of the minimum recommendation.ConclusionThe levels of GWG are inadequate in most low-income and middle-income countries and regions. Longitudinal monitoring systems and population-based interventions are crucial to combat inadequate GWG in low-income and middle-income countries.


2021 ◽  
pp. 194855062097802
Author(s):  
Todd K. Hartman ◽  
Thomas V. A. Stocks ◽  
Ryan McKay ◽  
Jilly Gibson-Miller ◽  
Liat Levita ◽  
...  

Research has demonstrated that situational factors such as perceived threats to the social order activate latent authoritarianism. The deadly COVID-19 pandemic presents a rare opportunity to test whether existential threat stemming from an indiscriminate virus moderates the relationship between authoritarianism and political attitudes toward the nation and out-groups. Using data from two large nationally representative samples of adults in the United Kingdom ( N = 2,025) and Republic of Ireland ( N = 1,041) collected during the initial phases of strict lockdown measures in both countries, we find that the associations between right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and (1) nationalism and (2) anti-immigrant attitudes are conditional on levels of perceived threat. As anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic increases, so too does the effect of RWA on those political outcomes. Thus, it appears that existential threats to humanity from the COVID-19 pandemic moderate expressions of authoritarianism in society.


2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052098039
Author(s):  
Valeria Skafida ◽  
Fiona Morrison ◽  
John Devaney

Domestic abuse is a pernicious societal issue that has both short- and long-term consequences for those who are victimized. Research points to motherhood being linked to women’s victimization, with pregnancy being a particular point of risk. Across UK jurisdictions, new legislation aims to extend the criminalization of domestic abuse to include coercive control. Less clear is the relationship between mothers’ victimization of different “types” of abuse and other factors such as age, socioeconomic status, and level of education. The article makes an original contribution to knowledge by addressing these limitations of the existing literature. Using nationally representative data from a Scottish longitudinal survey ( N = 3,633) into children’s development this article investigates the social stratification of mothers’ exposure to different types of abuse, including coercive control, physical abuse, and threats. Overall, 14% of mothers report experiencing any type of domestic abuse since the birth of the study child (age 6), of which 7% experienced physical abuse. Compared to mothers in the highest income households, mothers in the lowest income quintile were far more likely to experience any form of abuse (Logistic Regression, OR = 3.55), more likely to have experienced more types of abuse and to have experienced these more often ( OR = 5.54). Age had a protective effect, with mothers aged 20 or younger at most risk of abuse ( OR = 2.60 compared to mothers aged 40+). Interaction effects between age and income suggested that an intersectional lens may help explain the cumulative layers of difficulty which young mothers on low incomes may find themselves in when it comes to abusive partners. The pattern of social stratification remained the same when comparing different types of abuse. Mothers of boys were more likely to experience abuse, and to experience more types of abuse, more often. We reflect on how these findings could inform existing policy interventions.


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