Civil society – Politically engaged or member-serving? A governance perspective

Which types of civil society organizations are politicized as indicated by regular political engagement and why? If they are, how wide-ranging are their political action repertoires? This article proposes an ‘organizational governance perspective’ on civil society organizations’ political engagement by arguing that organizations resembling traditional ‘voluntary associations’ are less likely to be politicized and to employ a broad political action repertoire than those resembling highly professionalized ‘voluntary agencies’. Applying event count regressions to new data from four recent population surveys widely substantiates the proposed perspective, thereby challenging prominent arguments about the detrimental effects of professionalization and state dependency on organizations’ ability to contribute to democratic representation.

Determinants of Individual Prosociality and of Collective Social Solidarity-Cohesion: A Literature Review

The foundations of volunteering, charitable giving, voluntary associations, voluntary agencies, and other aspects of the Voluntary Nonprofit Sector (VNPS) collectively and individual voluntary action lie in various aspects of human nature and human societies. These may be referred to variously as altruism, morality, ethics, virtue, kindness, generosity, cooperation, social solidarity, and prosociality. Such foundations of the VNPS, and specifically of social solidarity and prosociality, are the subjects of this literature review article/book. The central goal here is to provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary theoretical framework for understanding, explaining, and predicting such phenomena, based on two versions of the author’s S-Theory.

What Support? Foucault, Power, and the Construction of Rape

This paper is concerned with the social and cultural constructions of male rape in voluntary agencies, England. Using sociological, cultural, and post-structural theoretical frameworks, mainly the works of Foucault, I demonstrate the ways in which male rape is constructed and reconstructed in such agencies. Social and power relations, social structures, and time and place shape their discourses, cultures, and constructions pertaining to male rape. This means that constructions of male rape are neither fixed, determined, nor unchanging at any time and place, but rather negotiated and fluid. I theorize the data—which was collected through semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires—including male rape counselors, therapists, and voluntary agency caseworkers. The theoretical and conceptual underpinnings that frame and elucidate the data contribute to sociological understandings of male rape.

‘Poison ivy’: Queer masculinities, sexualities, homophobia and sexual violence

This paper critically engages with notions of sexualities and male rape, using the concepts of heteronormativity and the social construction of sexualities to make sense of male sexual victimization. It offers primary data, which were collected via qualitative interviews and qualitative questionnaires involving police officers and practitioners working in voluntary agencies ( N = 70). The theoretical framework of heteronormativity is used to elucidate the data, drawing on issues and notions of sexualities that shape the ways in which state and voluntary agencies perceive, respond to and deal with male victims of rape. The aim of this paper, then, is to explore how notions of sexualities affect British state and voluntary agencies’ understanding of male rape and their views of men as victims of rape. I argue that state and voluntary agencies see male rape solely as a homosexual issue. As a result, heterosexual male rape victims, in particular, fear that societies will see them as homosexuals potentially drawing in homophobic reactions, responses or appraisals from others because rape challenges men’s heterosexual identity and sense of self as a ‘real’ man. Owing to the myth that male rape is a homosexual issue, and owing to heteronormativity, rape between men is seen as ‘consensual’ because anal penetration is considered to be an activity for gay men. Thus, sexist, homophobic and disbelieving attitudes emerge.

Education and School Administration in the Nigerian History: The Colonial and Post-Colonial Characteristics

School administration in Nigeria is becoming much more issue that the society, the practitioners and all stakeholders discuss with concern, particularly with changing output of the system which some people condemn for reason, not far from retrogressive quality delivery. It is good to say that gone were those days that Nigeria was rated high in the practice of modern education. Today, it is clear that so many things are wrong. This paper is not to evaluate or assess how far the administration of school in Nigeria is faring, but tried to be historical in chronicling how we have come to where we are. The manifestations in the characteristics of school administration from colonial Nigeria, where colonial government was associated with educational administration while the missionaries and voluntary agencies with school administration. Now in the post-colonial period, where government is responsible entirely for educational administration with a number of regulatory agencies and private organisations/individuals, religious bodies and voluntary agencies are in the administration of schools. The paper used some templates from other advanced practice to further provide insights into what is obtainable in the contemporary Nigeria. The problems associated with school administration in general and specifically in Nigeria were highlighted, with some recommendations emphasizing that stakeholders should play by the rules

The invisible, the alien and the marginal: Social and cultural constructions of male rape in voluntary agencies

Drawing on a Foucauldian approach and on interview data including male rape counsellors, therapists and voluntary agency caseworkers ( N=70), the author attempts to make sense of the different ways in which male rape is constructed in order to better understand how it is considered and responded to in current English society. The qualitative data herein, which were collected through semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires, are theoretically and conceptually informed. The author argues that male rape is socially and culturally constructed in voluntary agencies in England and shaped by discourse, power and knowledge. For example, discourse on male rape is constructed and reconstructed through social and power relations, and through social interactions between voluntary agency practitioners and male rape victims, accompanied by the attendant social structures and social practices. The implication of these arguments is that the voluntary agency practitioners think about and respond to male rape victims in an inconsistent, unpredictable and variable way, meaning that the practitioners are reliant on different discourses and cultural myths about male rape when providing support and services for male rape victims.

Making the invisible visible: (un)meeting male rape victims’ needs in the third sector

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the voluntary sector meets male rape victims’ needs in England, UK. The author’s contribution represents an attempt to piece together some of the voluntary sector’s responses to male rape victims in England, UK and examine whether they meet male rape victims’ needs. Design/methodology/approach The author draws on data collected from semi-structured interviews and qualitative questionnaires with male rape counsellors, therapists and voluntary agency caseworkers (n=70). Findings The findings reveal nuanced themes that have been overlooked in the existing literature of male rape: first, male rape victims are not given a choice of their voluntary agency practitioner (regarding gender) to serve them; second, there is no specific training on male rape in voluntary agencies; third, the impact of limited resources and funding in the voluntary sector means that many male rape victims’ needs are unmet; and finally, there is ageism and discrimination in some voluntary agencies, whereby male rape victims are prioritised in terms of their age. Research limitations/implications Methodologically, the author’s sample size was not considerably large (n=70), making it difficult to generalise the findings to all voluntary agency practitioners in a British context. Practical implications At a time of scarce funding and scant resources for the third sector, the impact of limited resources and funding in the voluntary sector could mean that male rape victims may not receive proper care and treatment. Budget cuts in the third sector are problematic, in that voluntary agencies may be unable to get access to robust training programs for male rape or to resources that can help shape and develop the ways in which they serve male rape victims. The needs of male rape victims, therefore, are unlikely to be met at the local, regional and national levels. Social implications Some practitioners are misinformed about male rape and do not have the tools to be able to adequately and efficiently handle male rape victims. Not only can their lack of understanding of male rape worsen male rape victims’ trauma through inappropriate ways of handling them, but also the practitioners may implicitly reinforce male rape myths, such as “male rape is solely a homosexual issue” or “men cannot be raped”. Originality/value Whilst previous contributions have recognised the third sector’s responses to female rape victims, little work has been done to identify their treatment of male rape victims. The author attempts to fill some of this lacuna. In particular, The author draws attention to some of the issues and dilemmas that arise when voluntary agencies provide services for male victims of rape. The author’s concern is that many male rape victims’ needs may be neglected or ignored because of the rise in neoliberalism, as there appears to be a financial meltdown in the voluntary sector.