Using Life Histories in Social Policy Research: The Case of Third Sector/Public Sector Boundary Crossing

Abstract

The life-history method is a valuable tool for social policy research. Taking an anthropological approach to studying policy, the article analyses the usefulness of the method using data drawn from a set of recently collected life-work histories from the UK. These life-work histories document the experiences of individuals who have crossed over between the public sector and the ‘third sector’ during their careers. The article first briefly reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the life-history method, then goes on to analyse selected issues and themes that emerge from the data at both the contextual and the individual levels. The article concludes that life-history work adds to our knowledge of the relationship between these two sectors, and of the processes through which ideas about ‘sector’ and policy are constructed and enacted.

The missing politics of urban vulnerability: The state and the co-production of climate risk

“…Examining vulnerability as "a function of the exposure (who or what is at risk) and sensitivity of system (the degree to which people and places can be harmed)" (Cutter, 1996 p.559 proved an invaluable method for exploring the interactions between structure and agency and uncovering narratives that challenged dominant policy discourse (Lewis, 2008). The 'livelihood trajectories' approach went beyond just mapping the contours of behaviour, however, in its exploration of attitudes and beliefs, an explicit focus on power relations and a situating of individual behaviours in relation to broader social-cultural repertoires (De Haan and Zoomers, 2005).…”

‘Critical friends’: exploring arm’s length actor relationships to local government in education

“…Rather, throughout the paper a position is taken - in line with literature on 'blurred boundaries' (e.g. Ball, 2007;Lewis, 2008) - which assumes a) that both state and non--state distinctive structures do exist, but also b) that there is some fluidity in what we might call 'state'/ 'non--state', and that c) the generic and unifying notion of being 'at distance' from state structures is something which can helpfully be examined. Such a position is helpful for exploring the case of CAs, where (as will be seen) common discursive themes emerge among actors operating 'at distance', albeit in different organisational forms (i.e.…”

Contesting Parallel Worlds: Time to Abandon the Distinction Between the ‘International’ and ‘Domestic’ Contexts of Third Sector Scholarship?

“…In 2006, I began a research project that engaged with the 'life-work histories' of a group of activists and professionals in UK, Philippines and Bangladesh in order to understand the experiences of people who cross between third sector and government settings (Lewis 2008). The study deliberately tried to work across the conventional divide of domestic and international third sectors, using the argument that such sector 'boundary crossing' was a general feature of all three country contexts, even if it took varying forms and had different drivers in each.…”