Malin Arvidson

Malin Arvidson
Lund University | LU · School of Social Work

PhD Sociology

About

36
Publications
31,012
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
870
Citations
Introduction
Currently I am involved with a research project entitled Civil Society Elites? More information about this project can be found here: https://www.civilsocietyelites.lu.se/ We are conducting research in Sweden, Italy, Poland, England and in Brussels, using a range of methods and approaches to explore power and leadership within civil societies today.

Publications

Publications (36)
Chapter
Full-text available
This chapter explores elite boundary crossing between civil society and other societal sectors—including the state, party politics, and business—and how this may lead to inter-elite integration. We illustrate how qualitative life-work history interviews provide an important complement to established quantitative approaches to the study of elite int...
Article
Full-text available
Contributing to research on civil society elites in the EU context, this article focuses on the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). It explores who the main actors are, what roles they play, and what resources they use, value, and compete for in this arena. The theoretical starting points are grounded in Bourdieu’s notions of field and c...
Article
This article explores what it takes to advance to the top of an EU institution (European Economic and Social Committee). The article combines Bourdieu’s theories of field and capital with Weber’s theory of social closure to study the interplay between required forms of capital and closure practices during three ideal-typical phases of upward mobili...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose For non-profit organizations (NPOs) external funding is an essential resource. Studies highlight how control is attributed to funders and so external funding threatens the autonomy of the recipient organization. The purpose of this study is to investigate how external control can be structured and exercised, and to explore how control inter...
Article
Full-text available
Internationella studier om villkoren för civila samhällets organisationer (CSO) belyser hur deras relation till offentlig sektor avgör karaktären på organisationernas utveckling. Den här artikeln bidrar till forskning inom området på två sätt. För det första utforskar studien svenska CSO som är verksamma inom det sociala området och hur deras relat...
Article
International studies on civil society organizations (CSOs) highlight how CSO's relation to the public sector is central to the characteristics of organizational change. This article contributes to this line of research in two ways. Firstly it explores how Swedish CSOs, involved with social services, are affected by proximity to and dependence on t...
Article
Full-text available
Research on the relationship between non-profit organizations (NPOs) and the public sector has been dominated by predictions of isomorphism where change and tensions in NPOs are attributed an imposing institutional setting. This article argues that research represents a selective perspective on organizational life due to its portrayal of organizati...
Article
Full-text available
This article sets out to identify a culture of advocacy that has come to characterise Swedish civil society, formed around a long-standing tradition of close and cordial relations between civil society organisations, popular movements, and state and government officials. We argue that Swedish civil society organisations (CSOs) have been allowed to...
Technical Report
Full-text available
Denna rapport innehåller resultat från en enkät som i november 2016 skickades till organisationer med social och omsorgsinriktning inom det civila samhället. Frågorna gällde hur dessa organisationer tar sig an frågor om uppföljning, kvalitetsmätning och utvärdering, kort sagt: deras utvärderingspraktik. Utskicket till drygt 1200 adressater gav 416...
Article
Full-text available
Academic debates on the role and position of civil society organisations (CSOs) in welfare states largely refer to policies and practices outlined at the national level. They therefore fail to recognise variations within nations. Based on a comparative case study of three Swedish metropolitan cities, this article illustrates the importance of local...
Article
Full-text available
Key functions of civil society organizations (CSOs) are to criticize governments and to hold them to account. Recent trends of privatization and contracting out challenge CSOs’ opportunities to voice such criticism. The purpose of this article is to analyse whether and why CSOs ‘hold back their criticism’ of public authorities, and how a compromise...
Chapter
Introduction The concept of social value has long since been used to describe the role and contribution of third sector organisations (TSOs) as social service actors. The concept has been put to the fore with the introduction of the Public Services Social Value Act (SVA) in 2012. In this chapter we make the case that evaluations can play an importa...
Chapter
This chapter argues that evaluations of work by third sector organizations can play an important role in the context of social welfare today. Evaluations serve as rhetorical tools in policy debates as well as tools for illustrating how and when social value creation takes place. The continued development of evaluation models that focus on evidencin...
Article
This edited collection provides a comprehensive overview of the third (or voluntary) sector role in the delivery of public services in the UK. It covers social enterprise, capacity building, volunteering and social value; as well as the sector’s role in specific fields including employment, health and social care, housing and criminal justice. It i...
Article
Full-text available
As welfare states are increasingly challenged and replaced by welfare mix models, new ideas about the functions of non-profit and voluntary organisations (NPVOs) provoke political conflicts that should be reflected in research. This paper explores the significance of political and ideological dimensions to present changes in the Swedish welfare sta...
Article
Full-text available
Aim: Tackling health inequalities is a top priority for public health services in England. Third sector organisations, or non-governmental organisations (NGOs), are seen as having a key role in providing these services, particularly to the socially excluded, often dubbed 'hard to reach', for whom services must be provided if health inequalities ar...
Chapter
Recruiting third sector organizations (TSOs) to a qualitative longitudinal (QL) study turned out to be in some cases a time-consuming and challenging process, and in others a little too easy. The governance structures of the organizations approached were not always simple to navigate with some organizations in a state of flux. Stakeholders’ differe...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose – This paper seeks to illustrate the social and economic impact of services delivered by a small charity to families affected by post-natal depression (PND). It highlights challenges and offers insights to the meaning of “social value” and “value for money” for commissioners of public health services. This has relevance for the introduction...
Chapter
This chapter originates from the experience of working as a researcher with a longitudinal study, the Reality Check Approach (RCA) in Bangladesh. The approach puts intimacy, immersion, and consensus at its core. These concepts signify an ethically motivated approach that aims to “give voice” to people living in poverty. They also describe an ideal...
Article
Full-text available
This article contributes to debates about ethical and methodological dilemmas experienced in international development studies. It departs from a research experience based on a longitudinal study, the Reality Check Approach, that puts intimacy, immersion and consensus at its core. These concepts signify an ethically motivated approach that aims to...
Article
Full-text available
Non-profit organisations are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their social impact. This paper examines the experience and behaviour of non-profit organisations in the UK in relation to a demand for social impact evaluations. External resource providers request organisations to present evidence on how resources are used and what organisation...
Article
The concept of 'social return on investment' (SROI) has come to play an important role in debates about how social enterprises and charities conceptualise, measure and communicate their achievements. In this paper we analyse the nature and role of SROI as used in the United Kingdom for impact assessment of such organisations. The paper offers insig...
Article
Full-text available
Real Times' is the Third Sector Research Centre's qualitative longitudinal study of third sector organisations, groups and activities. Over a three year period the study is following the fortunes, strategies, challenges and performance of a diverse set of fifteen 'core' case studies of third sector activity, and their relations with a number 'compl...
Article
Full-text available
As third sector organisations grow in scale and scope, little is known about how they measure their social value and report their achievements. This paper draws on theoretical and empirical material to understand these processes. Decisions over whether to measure, what to measure and how to measure are shown to be shaped by the objectives of the le...
Article
Full-text available
The topic of impact and evaluation of the third sector refers to a wide range of issues, which engages several groups of stakeholders. This paper reviews material presented by TSOs, funders, and academics with the aim of outlining the way evaluation is practiced, experienced and discussed. The paper identifies ways of understanding the complexities...
Article
Ambiguous practices and identities of NGOs have become a source of increasing concern for all involved in development intervention. But apart from pointing at dishonest marketing and unfortunate unintended consequences of donors' support, how can we under-stand these ambiguities? Based on an ethnographic study of local Bangladeshi NGOs, the article...
Article
Full-text available
In this article, Dee Jupp and colleagues describe how the Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) team in Bangladesh is carrying out a 5-year study to track the progress of two Sida-supported programmes in primary healthcare and primary education. Their 'Reality Checks' combine immersions and conventional participatory approache...

Network

Cited By