Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Where have all the radicals gone?

Where have all the radicals gone? PurposeThis paper aims to track the operations of a radical social enterprise, “New Horizon”, which attempted to provide a different approach to improve the independent living and employment opportunities for disabled people. The longitudinal study covers a period from the new labour project in the late 1990s to current austerity measures.Design/methodology/approachThe project applied an emancipatory disability research agenda which places both the social and material relations of knowledge in the hands of the disabled participants.FindingsUnder the neo-liberal marketisation of public services, the radical nature of the organisation needed to be tempered, as different stakeholder groupings required different and not always complementary approaches to be undertaken to maintain legitimacy. Neo-institutional pressures tended to drive the organisation towards conformity with similar more mainstream rivals meaning the radical approach which assisted the formation of the organisation became less observable.Social/implicationsThis research provides a unique insight into the systemic challenges faced by a social enterprise attempting to improve the independent living/employment prospects of disabled people. The longitudinal nature of the study illustrates how similar radical social enterprises, policymakers and researchers can understand how normative forces act in opposition to radical agendas.Originality/valueThis longitudinal study of a radical disability organisation which is undertaken through an emancipatory disability research agenda provides a unique insight into a marginalised and largely disenfranchised group in society. The paper provides a voice for the disabled stakeholders of New Horizon and hence differs from the majority of social research in that interpretations and analyses arise from the knowing subjects of research as opposed to the more traditional non-disabled academic research community. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Social Enterprise Journal Emerald Publishing

Where have all the radicals gone?

Social Enterprise Journal , Volume 13 (02): 17 – May 2, 2017

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/where-have-all-the-radicals-gone-mRlnGA1g94

References (33)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
1750-8614
DOI
10.1108/SEJ-07-2016-0024
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to track the operations of a radical social enterprise, “New Horizon”, which attempted to provide a different approach to improve the independent living and employment opportunities for disabled people. The longitudinal study covers a period from the new labour project in the late 1990s to current austerity measures.Design/methodology/approachThe project applied an emancipatory disability research agenda which places both the social and material relations of knowledge in the hands of the disabled participants.FindingsUnder the neo-liberal marketisation of public services, the radical nature of the organisation needed to be tempered, as different stakeholder groupings required different and not always complementary approaches to be undertaken to maintain legitimacy. Neo-institutional pressures tended to drive the organisation towards conformity with similar more mainstream rivals meaning the radical approach which assisted the formation of the organisation became less observable.Social/implicationsThis research provides a unique insight into the systemic challenges faced by a social enterprise attempting to improve the independent living/employment prospects of disabled people. The longitudinal nature of the study illustrates how similar radical social enterprises, policymakers and researchers can understand how normative forces act in opposition to radical agendas.Originality/valueThis longitudinal study of a radical disability organisation which is undertaken through an emancipatory disability research agenda provides a unique insight into a marginalised and largely disenfranchised group in society. The paper provides a voice for the disabled stakeholders of New Horizon and hence differs from the majority of social research in that interpretations and analyses arise from the knowing subjects of research as opposed to the more traditional non-disabled academic research community.

Journal

Social Enterprise JournalEmerald Publishing

Published: May 2, 2017

There are no references for this article.