How can charity be reimagined to contribute towards a more just society? C. Parsell & A. Clarke

Delivering services, undertaking research, influencing policy and public campaigns are some of the measures used by charities in Scotland to tackle poverty. In such challenging times, are these measures sufficient to disrupt the underlying causes of poverty?

Drawing upon their timely book ‘The Role of Charity and Poverty in Advanced Welfare States’, Andrew and Cameron will pose critical questions in this seminar about the value and role of charity in contemporary society. Charity, in the form of voluntarily giving one’s time and resources to care for and support people, is unambiguously seen as an individual virtue and a sign of a flourishing and caring society. Voluntary support and ground up action can represent a social good and direct benefit to people receiving help. These charitable acts, however, can let governments off the hook, can benefit the giver more than the receiver, and can divert attention and momentum from the structural change required to prevent poverty.

The speakers will seek to both identify the limitations of charity to people in receipt of it and outline how it can be a source of significant social good through facilitating systematic transformation to contribute towards a more just society.