Charity’s dilemmas: an ethnography of gift-giving and social class in Croatia
Journal of Organizational Ethnography
ISSN: 2046-6749
Article publication date: 18 October 2018
Issue publication date: 20 March 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore charitable giving and receiving as a site of social class interaction in Croatia today, particularly in relation to the country’s socialist past and capitalist present.
Design/methodology/approach
Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in three charity organisations in Croatia. The reported material is based on participant observation, interviews and informal conversations with organisation members, activists, employees and end users.
Findings
The authors find that charity activists and recipients of aid occupy distinct but overlapping moral economies in relation to questions of poverty, charity and the role of the state.
Originality/value
The authors develop a unique perspective on charitable giving and receiving in a context in which memories of socialism shape understandings of the role of the state today vis-à-vis poverty relief.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported in part by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project number 3134.
Citation
Doolan, K., Cepić, D. and Walton, J.F. (2019), "Charity’s dilemmas: an ethnography of gift-giving and social class in Croatia", Journal of Organizational Ethnography, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 11-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOE-03-2018-0015
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited