Liquid advocacy: Social welfare advocacy in neoliberal times

Abstract

This article examines current inconsistent trends in social welfare advocacy literature. Some studies show evidence of widespread engagement in advocacy by nonprofit organisations, while other studies conversely offer evidence of limited advocacy activities. Another controversial aspect stems from the question whether governmental funding undermines the extent to which nonprofits engage in advocacy. We argue that these findings reflect the contradictory impact of neoliberal governance on social welfare advocacy. The article highlights and discusses three interrelated components of neoliberalism and their impact on current social welfare advocacy: marketisation, precariousness and commodification. Neoliberalism has propelled a model of market‐driven civil society that has remade the practice of social welfare advocacy in contradictory ways. With its complex rationales, neoliberalism has simultaneously undermined the ability of nonprofits to engage in advocacy but in a paradoxical way has also created conditions that induce these organisations to practice advocacy. Implications for practice and research on social welfare advocacy are discussed.

Child welfare NGOs in Hong Kong: Does advocacy work?

“…In Hong Kong, it is not an uncommon view that advocacy is considered a subversive or an illicit activity, and boards or management may prohibit NGO staff from engaging in any form of perceived advocacy as a method of self-protection. In line with a neoliberal view, moving service provision away from the state and placing it in the hands of NGOs puts nonprofits under increased state control through fiscal and imposed regulations (Feldman et al, 2016).…”

“…Advocates push against ‘what is’, for ‘what should be’ for groups with a common need (Ezell, 2001). ‘Through advocacy efforts, organisations have historically addressed various social welfare issues that affect marginalized and poor groups, including … child welfare, disability and poverty’ (Feldman et al, 2016: 255).…”

The Impact of Neoliberalism on Civil Society and Nonprofit Advocacy

“…What do studies indicate about the impact of rationalization and managerialism on advocacy, the most overtly political of all nonprofit activities? Results to date give few clear answers due to variation within existing studies of organizational activity, types of professionalism, funding sources, and meanings associated with the term advocacy (Feldman, Strier, and Koreh 2017;Lu 2018). When narrowing the scope to human service organizations, the field most likely to serve marginalized populations and receive government funding, results continue to be ambiguous.…”

“…They indicate that advocacy may be reduced, increase, or shift in content, becoming more focused on organizational challenges rather than community defined issues (Eikenberry and Kluver 2004;Frumkin and Andre-Clark 2000;Hwang and Powell 2009;LeRoux 2009;Mosley 2012). Pertinent to the argument herein, Feldman, Strier, and Koreh (2017) attribute the inconclusive results to the complex response of organizations to neoliberalism and the way in which it has shifted the character of organizations toward marketization, precarity and commodification (Feldman, Strier, and Koreh 2017, p. 260).…”

“…1 Political advocacy is affected because it is not a program and thus requires investment in infrastructure such as human resources and communications to support engagement with and mobilization of various organizational constituencies (Lang 2013). The combined trends of marketization, precarity and commodification have progressively undermined the capacity of nonprofits to represent community interests (Feldman 1997;Feldman, Strier, and Koreh 2017).…”