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Small Voluntary Organisations in the 'Age of Austerity' pp 45–67Cite as

Getting Needed Resources: Life in Small VCSE Organisations

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Abstract

This chapter explores the effects of and limitations to neoliberal orthodoxy within two grassroots organisations for people with heart disease. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of generic and specific forces that act on fields, I argue that neoliberal values do affect such organisations. Leaders emerged who were of higher social class than other members and with experience in contracts and financial management. They “naturally” pursued external funding. However, this orientation was counterbalanced by internal forces that related to the social mission and the role of volunteers in their organisations. These internal forces were a safeguard against the unrestrained pursuit of external funding as a primary organisational goal.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Bourdieu argues that habitus is both a bodily orientation (a “hexis”, 1997, p. 141) and an embedded system of classification of the nature of reality which may be largely pre-conscious (1994, p. 8). Both aspects combine to give:

    …an immediate relationship of involvement, tension and attention, which constructs the world and gives it meaning. (Bourdieu 1997, p. 142)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Business, University of Greenwich, London, UK

    Pauline McGovern

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  1. Pauline McGovern
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McGovern, P. (2017). Getting Needed Resources: Life in Small VCSE Organisations. In: Small Voluntary Organisations in the 'Age of Austerity'. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52188-0_4

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