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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Mairi Maclean, Professor Charles Harvey, Ruomei Yang, Professor Frank Mueller
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Elite philanthropy – voluntary giving at scale by wealthy individuals, couples and families – is intimately bound up with the exercise of power by elites. This theoretically oriented review examines how big philanthropy in the United States and United Kingdom serves to extend elite control from the domain of the economic to the domains of the social and political, and with what results. Elite philanthropy, we argue, is not simply a benign force for good, born of altruism, but is heavily implicated in what we call the new age of inequalities, certainly as consequence and potentially as cause. Philanthropy at scale pays dividends to donors as much as it brings sustenance to beneficiaries. The research contribution we make is fourfold. First, we demonstrate that the true nature and effects of elite philanthropy can only be understood in the context of what Bourdieu calls the field of power, which maintains the economic, social and political hegemony of the super-rich, nationally and globally. Second, we demonstrate how elite philanthropy systemically concentrates power in the hands of mega foundations and the most prestigious endowed charitable organizations. Third, we explicate the similarities and differences between the four main types of elite philanthropy – institutionally supportive, market-oriented, developmental, and transformational – revealing how and why different sections within the elite express themselves through philanthropy. Fourth, we show how elite philanthropy functions to lock in and perpetuate inequalities rather than remedying them. We conclude by outlining proposals for future research, recognizing that under-specification of constructs has hitherto limited the integration of philanthropy within the mainstream of management and organizational research.
Author(s): Maclean M, Harvey C, Yang R, Mueller F
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: International Journal of Management Reviews
Year: 2021
Volume: 23
Issue: 3
Pages: 330-352
Print publication date: 01/07/2021
Online publication date: 21/02/2021
Acceptance date: 09/12/2020
Date deposited: 18/12/2020
ISSN (print): 1460-8545
ISSN (electronic): 1468-2370
Publisher: Wiley
URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12247
DOI: 10.1111/ijmr.12247
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