The Roots of Critical Nonprofit Scholarship – A Reflective Framework

• In Event: Critical Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizing and Voluntary Action I: Overview of the Field

Abstract

We explore the variable knowledge-constituting assumptions of critical nonprofit scholarship, how they diverge from the ‘mainstream’ and what this means theoretically, methodologically and practically for scholars. We propose a reflexive framework to help researchers to interrogate their working practices. The framework also provides a means through which they can convey the legitimacy of their work to key audiences, by being explicit about the quality criteria by which their research should be judged. Next, the framework is applied to two exemplars studies at opposite ends of the critical spectrum to draw attention to pluralism in the field. Lastly, we look to allied fields for examples of innovative ways of using existing research methods to develop and extend the critical endeavour in nonprofit scholarship. Our aim is to provide a reference point for scholars who want to try to develop critical research methodologies but get stuck on a ‘traditional’ track.

Authors

• Ellen Bennett, Sheffield Hallam University

• Beth Patmore, Nottingham Trent University