Faith-based social activism in Edinburgh: meaning, motive and definition
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Date
31/07/2021Item status
Restricted AccessEmbargo end date
31/07/2022Author
Medland, Christopher James
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Abstract
This thesis is a research investigation of the ways in which faith-based
organisations (FBOs) engage in social activism with the goal of discovering
how UK welfare reforms, including cuts in welfare provision and welfare
payments, have impacted the complex relationship between religious
organisations and welfare provision in Scotland. The research fills a gap in
scholarship as the grassroots character of faith-based social activism in
Scotland has not been fully explored since the onset of welfare reforms in the
twenty-first century. The research for the thesis is focused on data gathered
and analysed from three case studies of FBOs in the City of Edinburgh. Data
was gathered from participant observation by the researcher, and from
interviews and documentary analysis of FBOs in front-line settings including
foodbanks, homelessness prevention, housing provision and street
safeguarding patrols. This ethnographic and sociological research reveals
how meaning making, motivation, and definitions of theological concepts like
charity, compassion and redemption align with and deviate from
contemporary secular visions of welfare policy. Analysis of local faith-based
activism reveals shortfalls inherent to progressive welfare pluralism in Britain,
as well as the religious, ethical and theological forces underwriting the third
sector in Scotland.
The first two chapters provide an introduction and literature review,
detailing the scant academic attention afforded to the significant public role of
FBOs in Scotland. Chapter three describes the ethnographic research design
of the fieldwork, inducting a qualitative approach to the research question.
Chapter four traces the narratives of local volunteers which lay claim to a
distinctive phenomenology of place regarding theologies of welfare work in
Scotland. Chapter five develops documentary analysis of public FBO
representation compared with how volunteers and staff define their work.
Chapter six describes how participatory observation across two years of
fieldwork can shed light on the social drivers behind local faith-based
activism overseen by national trusts. Chapter seven attends to themes
generated via interviews regarding subjective meaning making processes
employed by FBO workers within state-sanctioned services. Chapter eight
offers a final analysis suggesting a symbolic typology which illuminates the
theological ethics exhibited in the three case studies. The concluding chapter
summarises the unique theological qualities encountered among faith-based
social activists in Edinburgh and points toward further evolution of the
research agenda and design.