Archived news
18 November 2011: Linsey McGoey to speak on the rise of 'philanthrocapitalism'
In 2006, an article in the Economist magazine introduced the term "philanthrocapitalism" to describe a novel trend sweeping philanthropic institutions: the tendency for a new breed of donors to conflate business aims with charitable endeavours, purporting to make philanthropy more cost-effective and impact-oriented.
Dr Linsey McGoey's research suggests that underpinning the rise of philanthrocapitalism is the idea that to do good socially, one must do well financially: public and private interest are deliberately conflated and touted as intrinsically mutually compatible. Far from being a new concept or trend, Linsey argues that this deliberate conflation of public and private interest can be traced to seventeen and eighteenth-century perceptions of the moral value of capitalism. This questionable view argues that capitalism helps to foster cooperation among nations, promoting the public good through individual economic enrichment.
However Linsey's research notes that what is new about the new philanthropy is the openness of the self-interest at root in philanthropy, an openness that collapses the distinction between public and private interests in order to justify increasingly concentrated levels of private gain. In her talks, Linsey will argue that the oxymoronic quality of the term philanthrocapitalism helps to illuminate the arbitrariness and ambiguity within distinctions between self, community and public interest. This very ambiguity itself serves as a form of capital.
Linsey will be giving a series of talks on this topic over the next few weeks:
- 'Philanthrocapitalism, global health and the new empire of giving', International Relations, Politics and Sociology Seminar Series, Oxford Brooks, Monday 21, 16:15 - 17:45
- "The Gates Effect: the rise of philanthrocapitalism", Goldsmiths on November 23
- And at the "Global Health, Political Economy and Beyond" workshop at City University on December 7