The Paradox of Sectorisation

Abstract

This is the first of three concluding chapters that attempt to draw together the threads of the argument that has preceded them and identify some of its implications for the theory and practice of voluntary action in the future. It explores and tries to explain the paradox of sectorisation — how and why the creation of a voluntary sector identity and the development alongside it of institutions based on the idea that voluntary action was a distinctive and different kind of activity have led us to a situation in which, in 2013, voluntary organisations have come to be managed by the same rules and assumptions that apply to private sector businesses or public sector agencies.