This thesis approaches the ways George MacDonald viewed and represented Victorian society in his novels by analysing select social issues which he felt compelled to address. Chapter One introduces the thesis. It contains a review of critical commentary on MacDonald’s work, as well as discussions on his non-fictional texts and essays, industrialism, and the great rural-urban divide of the nineteenth century. Chapter Two concentrates on MacDonald’s representations of the city in Robert Falconer (1868), The Vicar’s Daughter (1872), and Weighed and Wanting (1882) by underscoring parallels between Octavia Hill’s housing and environmental schemes and situations which he experienced firsthand. Chapter Three examines the influence of Nature on MacDonald’s theology and social views. Special emphasis is placed on Wordsworth and the development of MacDonald’s unique pantheism in his texts, such as the short story, ‘A Journey Rejourneyed’ (1865-6), Guild Court (1868), Wilfrid Cumbermede (1872), What’s Mine’s Mine (1886), and Home Again (1887). Chapter Four uncovers MacDonald’s involvement with the animal welfare movement during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Discussions on vivisection, vegetarianism, hunting, animal abuse, evolution, and degeneration are provided with a wide range of MacDonald’s texts, such as Alec Forbes of Howglen (1865), Paul Faber, Surgeon (1879), The Marquis of Lossie (1877), A Rough Shaking (1890), and Heather and Snow (1893). Chapter Five offers a short summation of the thesis. It affirms that MacDonald was deeply troubled by certain social issues that were raised within his society and would use his fiction to express his concerns. The conclusion also offers a few suggestive topics for ongoing research in the field of this thesis.

Plus souvent étudiée dans le cadre états-unien, la philanthropie fait l’objet d’un nombre accru de travaux en France aussi. Il s’agit ici d’examiner les organismes à but non-lucratif se consacrant aux sciences de la santé, à la jonction d’une histoire de la recherche médicale et d’une histoire des fondations. Le premier objectif est de recenser et de décrire ces organisations : actions, fonctionnements, modèles économiques. Le deuxième d’interpréter leur essor depuis la fin du XXe siècle – le nombre de fondations françaises tous domaines confondus a doublé en quinze ans, comme leurs dépenses et leurs actifs. De nouveaux statuts ont été créés, en particulier celui du fonds de dotation en 2008, la législation dans ce domaine, de manière générale, s’étoffant significativement au cours de cette décennie. En encourageant ainsi les instruments visant à lever de l’argent privé, la puissance publique initie-t-elle une forme de désengagement, ou du moins un redéploiement de ses missions ? Si la réponse ne peut être que nuancée, il est notable que l’étude des fonds et fondations nous place au cœur d’une histoire des transformations récentes de l’État, sur laquelle elle ambitionne d’apporter un éclairage spécifique, en faisant voir notamment ses implications pour les médecins chercheurs, confrontés à une complexité croissante des modes de financement. / Usually considered in the american context, philanthropy is the subject of a growing number of studies in France also. We here examine non-profits that are dedicated to health sciences, at the juncture of two distinct fields: history of medical research and history of charitable foundations. Our first objective is to list and describe these organizations: their actions, functioning and economic models. The second one is to interpret their expansion since the end of the 20th century – the number of French foundations all types combined doubled in 15 years, as did their assets and expenditures. New legal forms were created, most notably the endowment fund («fonds de dotation») in 2008, as legislation in this field developed. By encouraging tools whose purpose is to collect private money, are public authorities initiating a form of disengagement, or at least a restructuring of their missions? The answer must remain nuanced, but it is notable that studying charitable funds and foundations places us at the heart of another field: history of State transformation, which we hope to shed some light on, by showing its implications for researchers, who are facing a growing complexity in science funding.

<p>Today, companies permanently need to implement solutions aimed at generating competitive advantage that allow them to survive and be successful in ever changing and demanding markets. Therefore, to focus on customers is a common denominator for organizations, aiming to meet their needs and satisfy their expectations.</p><p>In this context, society has become one of the players as one of the actors that highly influence corporate behavior. Communities have expressed more mistrust of corporations' because of various scandals. This has put business ethics in the spot light influencing companies to be good corporate citizens, respecting the law but also to create good social values and principles. Today, the level of demand goes beyond the direct impact of the organizations business to also incorporate how corporations can contribute to societal and environmental causes. For corporations, these activities are manifested through the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, from a corporate perspective, it is difficult to measure if these changes can have a positive impact on a firm. Instead, these contributory practices are mainly measurable from a philanthropic perspective.</p><p>Therefore, it occurs to be a divergence between the concepts of competitiveness and business ethics which consequently raised our research question: <em>How do large corporations, involved in philanthropic CSR projects, value the outcome of these projects?</em></p><p>Our purpose with this thesis is to identify how corporations can increase their competitive advantage by supporting philanthropic projects. In order to achieve this, we have conducted a qualitative study where the collection of the empirical data was done through semi-structured interviews with three big corporations. These firms are all services providing companies who support social/philanthropic projects. This support is assisted by a non-profit organization that deals with social projects around the world while at the same time creates social commitment among corporations.</p><p>In the theoretical framework, we have presented the concepts of competitive advantage, business ethics, branding, stakeholders and CSR as main theoretic pillars. The thesis also includes theories that relate these theories to each other, such as “Corporations and Society” and “CSR and Competitiveness”.</p><p>In previous frameworks we found that there is a gap related to how theories describe the link between ethics and competitiveness in contemporary organizations.</p><p>Finally in the analysis section we linked the empirical findings to presented theories and ultimately created a framework showing the correlation between competitiveness and business ethics and CSR. The main conclusions are that business ethics and competitiveness can be linked and bridged by the concept of CSR. Unlike previous theories we concluded that these two concepts are compatible which means that it is possible to get competitive advantage by pursuing social objectives.</p>

Today, companies permanently need to implement solutions aimed at generating competitive advantage that allow them to survive and be successful in ever changing and demanding markets. Therefore, to focus on customers is a common denominator for organizations, aiming to meet their needs and satisfy their expectations. In this context, society has become one of the players as one of the actors that highly influence corporate behavior. Communities have expressed more mistrust of corporations' because of various scandals. This has put business ethics in the spot light influencing companies to be good corporate citizens, respecting the law but also to create good social values and principles. Today, the level of demand goes beyond the direct impact of the organizations business to also incorporate how corporations can contribute to societal and environmental causes. For corporations, these activities are manifested through the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, from a corporate perspective, it is difficult to measure if these changes can have a positive impact on a firm. Instead, these contributory practices are mainly measurable from a philanthropic perspective. Therefore, it occurs to be a divergence between the concepts of competitiveness and business ethics which consequently raised our research question: How do large corporations, involved in philanthropic CSR projects, value the outcome of these projects? Our purpose with this thesis is to identify how corporations can increase their competitive advantage by supporting philanthropic projects. In order to achieve this, we have conducted a qualitative study where the collection of the empirical data was done through semi-structured interviews with three big corporations. These firms are all services providing companies who support social/philanthropic projects. This support is assisted by a non-profit organization that deals with social projects around the world while at the same time creates social commitment among corporations. In the theoretical framework, we have presented the concepts of competitive advantage, business ethics, branding, stakeholders and CSR as main theoretic pillars. The thesis also includes theories that relate these theories to each other, such as “Corporations and Society” and “CSR and Competitiveness”. In previous frameworks we found that there is a gap related to how theories describe the link between ethics and competitiveness in contemporary organizations. Finally in the analysis section we linked the empirical findings to presented theories and ultimately created a framework showing the correlation between competitiveness and business ethics and CSR. The main conclusions are that business ethics and competitiveness can be linked and bridged by the concept of CSR. Unlike previous theories we concluded that these two concepts are compatible which means that it is possible to get competitive advantage by pursuing social objectives.

Swedish postwar aid to Germany from 1945 to 1954 is described and analyzed, especially as an expression of Swedish attitudes developed over a long period of societal evolution. As early as 1943/44 both Swedish voluntary agencies and the Swedish government began to plan program of postwar aid to Germany. Older and more recent attitudes to Germany, the views of Germans living in exile in Sweden and the intentions of the Western allies toward a conquered Germany were central in determining the nature and scope of Swedish aid. Programs incorporated the values of traditional Christian charity, secularized philanthropy and applied methods developed for emergency aid abroad and for social assistance at home. The new concept of the welfare state, strong in Sweden at the time, led to aid also being aimed toward long-term socio-political goals. Children, young people, mothers, refugees, displaced persons and what was regarded as the German elite were the main recipients of various aid efforts. In the atmosphere of the Cold War, aid came to be increasingly directed to West Germany. Postwar aid, with Germany as the main non-Scandinavian recipient, was Sweden's first experience as a long-term aid donor. While the efforts of voluntary agencies were concen­trated abroad, the Swedish welfare state developed rapidly at home, leaving no room for privately sponsored social work. Even after 1950/54, therefore, the work of Swedish voluntary agencies was directed at needs abroad, mainly to so-called undeveloped countries outside Europe. The premises underlying such aid and its contents were largely the same as for postwar aid to Germany. / digitalisering@umu

This thesis discusses how IKEA perceive and use concept of Sustainable Development and relates it with consumption. For that purpose, an online-survey was undertaken with the aim to see how IKEA´s customers perceive IKEA´s philanthropic activities in developing countries and how these activities influence on their consumption patterns and ideas of inter-generational justice. Besides that, a critical discourse analysis is performed with the intention to gain insight into IKEA´s communication of sustainable discourse focusing on the text and external communication from IKEA. The results from critical discourse analysis and online-survey showed that IKEA is shifting its position toward sustainability discourse and changing its business model, while at same time IKEA is penetrating into new markets and reaching new consumption under cover of corporate philanthropy. The online survey showed that IKEA´s customers stated a strong expression of necessary presence of inter-generational justice in developing countries. Intergenerational justice represents the moral obligations toward present, but also toward future generations. IKEA´s philanthropic activities in developing countries, on the other hand, were appraised as weak by survey respondents. One of the conclusions this thesis is that IKEA´s incorporation of Sustainable Development is associated with challenges. IKEA´s communication of corporate sustainable development effects on customers’ consumption pattern motivating them to buy and consume more IKEA´s products. IKEA´s philanthropic activities in developing countries are not sufficient enough. Survey respondents evaluated that donation efforts are not sufficient. Ideally, it is assumed that IKEA as a part of corporate sustainable development should promote less consumption and invest more in sustainable use and protection of natural resources with the aim to reach inter-generational justice as well as to incorporate Sustainable Development into its discourse and practice.

Filantropi inom företag har sedan länge varit ett fenomen utanför Sverige. Dock har filantropin brett ut sig inom Sverige de senaste åren och blir allt populärare av olika anledningar. Till exempel säger vissa företag att de känner en skyldighet att hjälpa de som har det sämre och de inom sin omgivning.Baserat på svar från intervjuer gjorda med sju olika respondenter från sju olika svenska företag, syftar denna uppsats till att svara på hur svenska företag arbetar med filantropi och vad som motiverar dem till att göra det.Resultatet tyder på att svenska företag arbetar med filantropi på ett centraliserat sätt och att informationen om arbetet kommuniceras mestadels internt, för att engagera och motivera personalstyrkan samt även för att ses som en attraktiv arbetsgivare. Filantropi kan även användas som en strategi för att stärka ett varumärke, samla politiska resurser och motverka negativ kritik. / Philanthropy within corporations has for a long time been a phenomenon outside of Sweden. However, philanthropy has spread throughout Sweden in recent years and is for various reasons becoming more popular. For example corporations say that they feel an obligation to help those who have it worse and also those in their environment.Based on answers gathered from interviews with seven different respondents from seven different Swedish corporations, this essay means to answer the question of how Swedish corporations work with philanthropy and what motivates them to do so.The result indicates that Swedish corporations work with philanthropy in a centralized manner and that information about this work is communicated mostly internally, to engage and motivate the staff but also to be seen as an attractive employer. Philanthropy can also be used as a strategy to strengthen a brand, gather political resources and combat negative criticism.This essay is written in Swedish.

What does the prevalence of stress and burnout in community-based work reveal about the impacts of welfare state withdrawal? Drawing on the experiences of frontline community organizers in Toronto, this research argues that welfare state withdrawal is subsidized by a ‘Currency of Caring’ whereby frontline community organizers are expected to fill gaps in the social safety net, working to a point of burnout if necessary, because they care. This research investigates how funders operating within this context can promote health and wellness in community-based work. Broadly, research findings provide insights into how neoliberalism and welfare state withdrawal shape frontline community work in ways that exacerbate stress and burnout, and impede systemic change efforts. In addition, research findings describe the limitations and possibilities for funders to be allies in collective change efforts by being invested in the health and wellness of frontline community organizers.

This thesis is an investigation of the Philanthropic Society (est. 1788) and Refuge for the Destitute (est. 1804), two subscription charities established to prevent crime and reform members of the “criminal underclass” in London, England. This thesis engages the perspectives of both benefactors and beneficiaries, arguing that beneficiaries (or “objects”) were not passive participants in the charitable exchange, but actively sought to manipulate the institutions’ systems to secure their own desires —desires which did not always align with those of their benefactors. The introductory chapter explores the social, economic, and political conditions which led benefactors to create the institutions and which informed their aims and methods. The first chapter examines the strategies used by objects to secure charitable aid on their own terms. The post-institutional conduct of beneficiaries is the focus of the final chapter. Despite the intensive reformatory regimen of the Philanthropic and Refuge, a significant proportion of beneficiaries —at least one third— refused to fulfill benefactors’ expectations that they become law-abiding, industrious, and pious citizens. From the day of their application to the institutions to long after their departure, objects’ actions were informed by their own expectations and desires. / Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

What does the prevalence of stress and burnout in community-based work reveal about the impacts of welfare state withdrawal? Drawing on the experiences of frontline community organizers in Toronto, this research argues that welfare state withdrawal is subsidized by a ‘Currency of Caring’ whereby frontline community organizers are expected to fill gaps in the social safety net, working to a point of burnout if necessary, because they care. This research investigates how funders operating within this context can promote health and wellness in community-based work. Broadly, research findings provide insights into how neoliberalism and welfare state withdrawal shape frontline community work in ways that exacerbate stress and burnout, and impede systemic change efforts. In addition, research findings describe the limitations and possibilities for funders to be allies in collective change efforts by being invested in the health and wellness of frontline community organizers.