Big society: a concept in pursuit of a definition
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the conceptual and policy underpinnings of the UK Government's “Big Society” programme.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses secondary research: a review and analysis of published sources – official and unofficial.
Findings
The “Big Society” concept is unclear but seems more focused upon extending the principle of markets than increasing community cohesion. This may do little to encourage the shared endeavour which is known to be necessary for service integration focused on individuals. Co‐production would be a better concept to underpin the Big Society.
Originality/value
There have been few attempts to undertake a broad analysis of the Big Society idea and critically explore the whole programme.
Keywords
Citation
Hudson, B. (2011), "Big society: a concept in pursuit of a definition", Journal of Integrated Care, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 17-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/14769011111176716
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2011, Emerald Group Publishing Limited