Big Society - a critical reappraisal

Monday 12th December 2011 -  NCVO, London

Part of a joint series of policy seminars by the Economic and Social Research Council and TSRC. 
This seminar was co-hosted by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations

Podcasts of speakers and panel members

Prof. Pete Alcock, Director, Third Sector Research Centre

Prof Anne Power, LSE

Anna Coote, Head of Social Policy, NEF

Jeremy Vincent, DCLG

Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive, RSA

Karl Wilding, Head of Policy, Research and Forsight, NCVO (speaking notes, PDF)

Presentations:

The Big Society: new direction or empty space?, Professor Pete Alcock, TSRC

Big Society in action: how does the co-operative instinct emerge in low income communities, Professor Anne Power, LSE

Social media

Twitter reach and themes report (PDF, 804KB)

Tweets and chat about academic presentations

Tweets and chat about the panel discussion

Background:

This seminar built on a previous event entitled Big Society Evidence Seminar which was jointly organised by TSRC and NCVO in October 2010. The previous seminar explored the evidence base for three key areas of the Big Society agenda (participation, service delivery and funding) and this seminar aim to undertake a critical reappraisal of the Big Society.

This seminar looked at the Coalition Government and the Big Society policy agenda. It aimed to review the impact of Big Society politics and policies eighteen months on from the 2010 election - in particular focusing upon the implications of the Big Society for third sector practice and the relationships between third sector organisations and the state.

Research and policy questions:

• What have been the main features of the Big Society policy agenda, and to what extent does this provide a new policy context for the third sector?
• How are the new policy programmes being implemented?
• What is the evidence from research and practice about the impact of policy change?
• What are the major remaining policy challenges?

This seminar was the first in a series of joint seminars by the Economic and Social Research Council and TSRC, focusing on various issues of relevance to civil society. The next, focusing on service delivery by the third sector, will take place on 8 March 2011. More details will be made available soon. 

The aim of these seminars is to encourage an exchange of knowledge and ideas between academic research and policy and practice, helping to ensure that research findings on the sector are disseminated, applied and acted upon amongst a range of organisations within the sector. Furthermore, the seminars aim to encourage the utilisation of research by policy makers in central and local government.

More information: knowledgeexchange@esrc.ac.uk