The relational geographies of the voluntary sector: Disentangling the ballast of strangers

Abstract

We propose that voluntary sector geographies are best understood using a systematic relational approach, drawing upon neo-Marxist and symbiotic perspectives. We focus on relations between the voluntary sector and the (shadow) state, internal spaces of client interaction, and external urban spaces. Our relational approach advances alternative understandings of the voluntary sector: ones that are partly but not fully in the orbit of the shadow state; more mediator than conduit for neoliberal policies; partly punitive, yet firmly in relation with other ambivalent measures for clients; and both spatially uneven and fixed, but always unbounded in its practices.

The service hub as bypassed social infrastructure: evidence from inner-city Osaka

“…This is especially crucial given that such places never experienced the sequence of Fordist/post-Fordist, bundled/unbundled infrastructure in the same way. For instance, in Japan much infrastructure remains bundled to this day, albeit primarily for economic rather than social reasons, and social fragmentation remains relatively muted when compared to many nations in the Global North, with the voluntary sector playing a relatively minor role (DeVerteuil et al, 2020). Further, neoliberalism sits uneasily in the Japanese context, given that the state remains steadfastly interventionist.…”

“…We define service hubs as inner-city clusters of voluntary sector organizations designed to help the most vulnerable populationsthe homeless, individuals with mental illness, the precariously-housed, and substance abusers in treatment (DeVerteuil, 2015). The voluntary sector usually consists of formal organizations that lie outside of the state, the market and informal local communities and families, usually focused on caring and sustaining the vulnerable (DeVerteuil et al, 2020). Like most (potential) social infrastructure, service hubs are very much "overlooked and undervalued" (Latham & Layton, 2019, p. 1), and part of this paper's mission is to focus more attention on 'poor people's infrastructure' (Blomley, 2008), of service hubs as (social) infrastructure of last resort but also of everyday survival.…”

Debilitating landscapes of care and support: envisaging alternative futures

“…However, this does not mean that the voluntary sector has become entirely subservient and co-opted by the state. DeVerteuil, Power and Trudeau (2020) show how voluntary sector organisations can be 'mediating actors' which can develop their own localised agendas. This work acknowledges the 'politics of possibility' that exists (Elwood et al, 2017,746) within the re-structuring of service delivery.…”

Religious faith, effort and enthusiasm: motivations to volunteer in response to holiday hunger

“…Milligan and Fyfe 10 characterise the potential of geography to understand the voluntary sector around three themes: space, with the uneven distribution of voluntary sector welfare provision; place, as voluntary sector provision is affected by where it is taking place; and the political context, as voluntary sector provision is increasingly in the context of the retracting welfare state. Subsequently DeVerteuil et al 11 take up the debate over the relationship between the voluntary sector and the welfare state, advocating a relational approach to voluntary sector geographies in order to engage with relationships as varyingly mutual, parasitic and/or independent. Such a relational approach to the voluntary sector is important in order to recognise that volunteers, service-users and organisations are not independent entities but are relational to each other and their wider environments.…”