Book contents
- Reimagining Nonprofits
- Reimagining Nonprofits
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 An Invitation to Rethink the Nonprofit Sector
- Part I Overviews
- Part II Reflections and Refinements
- 5 Sector Theorists Should Consider How Social Values Determine Unmet Needs
- 6 Sector Theorists Should Embrace a Social Economy Perspective
- 7 Sector Theorists Should Expand Three-Failures Theory to Include the Family Sector and Varied Forms of Government
- 8 Sector Theorists Should Be Wary of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex
- 9 Sector Theorists Should Be Inclusive of Muslim and Non-Western Perspectives
- 10 Sector Theorists Should Revisit the Role of Information
- 11 Sector Theorists Should Borrow Epistemologies
- Part III New Directions
- Part IV Conclusion
- Index
- References
11 - Sector Theorists Should Borrow Epistemologies
from Part II - Reflections and Refinements
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 January 2024
- Reimagining Nonprofits
- Reimagining Nonprofits
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- 1 An Invitation to Rethink the Nonprofit Sector
- Part I Overviews
- Part II Reflections and Refinements
- 5 Sector Theorists Should Consider How Social Values Determine Unmet Needs
- 6 Sector Theorists Should Embrace a Social Economy Perspective
- 7 Sector Theorists Should Expand Three-Failures Theory to Include the Family Sector and Varied Forms of Government
- 8 Sector Theorists Should Be Wary of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex
- 9 Sector Theorists Should Be Inclusive of Muslim and Non-Western Perspectives
- 10 Sector Theorists Should Revisit the Role of Information
- 11 Sector Theorists Should Borrow Epistemologies
- Part III New Directions
- Part IV Conclusion
- Index
- References
Summary
Castillo argues that one reason for the standstill in sector theorizing may be that theory-building has been too focused on anthropocentric constructs, for example, economic, organizational, and symbolic aspects of firms and societies. Instead, the author suggests moving from an egocentric to an ecocentric conceptualization of organizing by drawing from principles from biology and ecology to develop a framework to explain prosocial organizing. By shifting the analytical focus from economizing to ecologizing, the chapter offers a conceptual foundation for how a relational approach to exchange can reconcile sustainability tensions between now and later, individual and collective, and social and financial returns. The chapter concludes with a discussion of implications for research, policy, and practice, suggesting relational biology as a plausible theoretical framework to move nonprofit theory beyond description toward concrete mathematical models.
Keywords
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- Reimagining NonprofitsSector Theory in the Twenty-First Century, pp. 215 - 230Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024