1. Teaching the History of the Big Society Some Ideas from the Outset
George Campbell Gosling
Oxford Brookes University

2. Sources Debates Relevance
Reasons for making charity and civil society a central theme in the teaching of modern British history
Sources
Debates
Relevance

3. SOURCES If I had a donkey wot wouldn't go,
D' ye think I'd wollop him? No, no, no!
But gentle means I'd try, d' ye see,
Because I hate all cruelty.
If all had been like me, in fact,
There'd ha' been no occasion for Martin's Act
Music Hall ditty
Painting of the Trial of Bill Burns in 1822, the world’s first prosecution for animal cruelty

4. DEBATES AND THEORIES
‘Social control’ and the ‘gift relationship’ – class relations

5. DEBATES AND THEORIES
‘Social control’ and the ‘gift relationship’ – class relations
Did philanthropy liberate women from the domestic sphere?

6. DEBATES AND THEORIES
‘Social control’ and the ‘gift relationship’ – class relations
Did philanthropy liberate women from the domestic sphere?
Did the rise of the welfare state crowd out civil society? ’

7. DEBATES AND THEORIES
‘Social control’ and the ‘gift relationship’ – class relations
Did philanthropy liberate women from the domestic sphere?
Did the rise of the welfare state crowd out civil society?
Social science approaches – such as the creation of ‘social capital’

8. RELEVANCE: HISTORICAL
Poverty and welfare Class relations
Role of women Cultural associations
Imperial networks Minority groups
Social change Moral debates

9. RELEVANCE: CONTEMPORARY DEBATE

10. To summarise:
The history of charity and civil society is ripe of teaching
Both sources and historical debates are plentiful and varied
It offers a way into a wide range of historical themes
Relevance to political debates is not new and should be embraced