June 26, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Just Another Emperor?: The Myths and Realities of Philanthrocapitalism
by Michael Edwards
Social entrepreneurship, microenterprise, and venture philanthropy — which are sometimes referred to as “philanthrocapitalism” — have gained a lot of publicity as exciting new ways to harness capitalism for social benefit, but “this movement is flawed in both its proposed means and promised ends,” argues Michael Edwards, director of governance and civil society at the Ford Foundation.
Mr. Edwards warns donors against pinning all our hopes on philanthrocapitalism, a method that he says has not yet proved itself on a large scale and simply cannot solve certain entrenched social and political problems, like the inequality faced by India’s untouchables.
Indeed, he sees potentially pernicious effects on civil society if charitable work is dominated by market interests: dependence on big business, inequality between rich service providers and poor local groups, and an unhealthy reliance on competition and financial incentives, for example.
Chapters discuss Mr. Edwards’s thoughts on what is wrong with a market-based approach to philanthropy and how organizations and philanthropists can ensure that they attend to all the elements of a social issue, not just those that respond to an economic intervention.
“At its best, voluntary action releases incalculable social energy — the sheer joy of collective action for the public good, free, as far as humanly possible, of commercial considerations and self-interest,” he concludes. “That is surely something to preserve.”
Publisher: Demos: a Network for Ideas and Action, 220 Fifth Avenue, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10001; (212) 633-1405; http://www.demos-usa.org; 105 pages; $11.95; ISBN 978-0-9816151-1-0.
