Faire société. La philanthropie à Genève et ses réseaux transnationaux autour de 1900

Dumons, Bruno

doi:10.3917/rhps.015.0162

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Geneva has a long financial and banking history and a highly integrated financial field (Araujo 2020;Mazbouri and Guex 2010) dominated by ancient families and private banks active in wealth management. Geneva is also known for its philanthropic initiatives, led by foundations and banks (David and Heiniger 2019;David, Heiniger, and Bühlmann 2016;David et al 2016). The case of Geneva, finally, also has the perk of being quite suitable to a thorough emergence analysis.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capitalizing on Capitalism: How Impact Investing in Geneva Emerged among the Traditional Financial Field

Kabouche

2024

Preprint

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Coined by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2007, impact investing has often been showcased as a disruptive approach to finance, by its promoters. This paper examines the emergence of impact investing in Geneva and shows that this discourse can be qualified when it comes to the concrete conditions of its emergence, as a field. Literature on impact investing emergence has mainly examined this process under the lens of its intermediary status and its connection to various proximate fields, especially the state. But the present case shows a local emergence that is driven by incumbent market actors from traditional finance. We argue that such an emergence relies on strategies capitalizing on microfinance, a characteristic practice of Geneva, controlled by the main financial actors of the city. Based on qualitative fieldwork consisting of interviews and document analyses, the paper reconstructs the rise and evolution of impact investing in Geneva over the past two decades, showing that dominant private banks of Geneva directly or indirectly propelled most of the asset management firms positioned today in impact investing, relying on various mechanisms, such as practice relabeling, and strategic innovations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Capitalizing on Capitalism: How Impact Investing in Geneva Emerged among the Traditional Financial Field

Kabouche

2024

Preprint

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“…Originally mostly active in textile trade and production, the patrician families diversified their economic activities towards services (banking and insurance) and other industrial branches (machines in Zurich, chemical industry in Basel). Culturally, the patriciate kept the upper hand; they were, for example, massively represented among the boards of local art societies, as well as in philanthropic activities (David and Heiniger 2019). The patriciate also developed an idiosyncratic folklore, celebrating its long history, embodied in Zurich by the yearly parade of the guilds (Sechseläuten), by the celebration of the battle against the Savoyards of 1602 in Geneva (Escalade), and the Basel Carnival (Basler Fasnacht).…”

Section: The Entanglement Of Power and Kinshipmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Swiss Patrician Families between Decline and Persistence: Power Positions and Kinship Ties (1890–1957)

Benz,

Araujo,

Legentilhomme

et al. 2024

Soc. sci. hist.

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Scholarship demonstrated the major role of inheritance and kinship for elite’s power reproduction, particularly among noble families. In the absence of monarchic and court structures, ruling classes that enjoyed privileges and engaged in social closure could become the functional equivalent of a nobility. In this paper, we examine the evolution of the power of Swiss patrician families in the three major Swiss cities (Basel, Geneva, and Zurich) since the end of the nineteenth century and assess whether urban oligarchies endure in the twentieth century and what role kinship ties play in the reproduction of power structures. Building on a systematic database of 5,199 urban elites who hold power positions in the main economic, political, academic, and cultural institutions, we describe the evolution of Swiss patrician families between 1890 and 1957. Using social network, kinship, and sequence analysis, we provide a comprehensive investigation of the Swiss patrician elite’s evolution at both the individual and the family level. Our analyses show a general decline of patrician families’ presence in urban positions of power, however with significant variations according to both the cities and the spheres of activity. Furthermore, we identify distinct trajectories of families who have either lost their access to power positions, managed to access again or have remained in urban power positions according to different survival strategies. Beyond the Swiss case, we contribute to the literature on power and kinship through an interdisciplinary approach combining historical and sociological perspectives.

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“…As such, this Swiss case study this study contributes to the empirical knowledge of philanthropy in Europe, which is still underdeveloped. 8 More precisely, it concerns the charitable activities in Genevaa location populated by many philanthropists and that boasts a long philanthropic tradition (David & Heiniger, 2019).…”

Section: Genevan Philanthropymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…health, education, culture and welfare) (David, Heiniger, & Bühlmann, 2016). It has been shown that these philanthropic organisations were bound together by shared members, leading to a division of philanthropic work (David & Heiniger, 2019;Ginalski & Heiniger, 2016). Today, the concentration of philanthropic organisationsfoundations under private lawremains high at 25 foundations per 10,000 inhabitants (Guggi et al, 2021).…”

Section: Genevan Philanthropymentioning

confidence: 99%

Legitimation Devices of Moral Entrepreneurs: The Fictional Pact and the Claimsmaking of Genevan Philanthropy

Serrano¹

2023

Preprint

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The moral entrepreneur is a social actor capable of turning social situations, perceived by themself as harming, into public problems. In line with Howard Becker's work, the criminological literature has looked at the processes of problem construction by moral entrepreneurs and their consequences. It explains how certain social situations are turned into public problems and how they are dealt with in the public arena. However, to achieve their self-attributed mission, moral entrepreneurs need to be, above all, feel legitimate to do so. This paper focuses on the legitimation devices put forth by moral entrepreneurs through the specific case study of Geneva’s philanthropy. Philanthropists take over various social harms and, in parallel, develop a narrative presenting themselves as legitimate to do so. This research, using a qualitative methodology (observation, interview, documentary analysis), unveils two main devices of legitimation: (1) The Fictional Pact, a narrative that functions as a self-legitimation tool on the moral level, and (2) the public legitimation, making a solid and supported claim that society needs philanthropy. More broadly, this study helps to understand better how private moral entrepreneurs justify their participation in society’s governance by bringing together two traditionally separate pieces of literature on legitimation.

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Faire société. La philanthropie à Genève et ses réseaux transnationaux autour de 1900

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Capitalizing on Capitalism: How Impact Investing in Geneva Emerged among the Traditional Financial Field

Capitalizing on Capitalism: How Impact Investing in Geneva Emerged among the Traditional Financial Field

The Swiss Patrician Families between Decline and Persistence: Power Positions and Kinship Ties (1890–1957)

Legitimation Devices of Moral Entrepreneurs: The Fictional Pact and the Claimsmaking of Genevan Philanthropy

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