The radical behaviourism of philanthrocapitalism

Seminar summary

Elite philanthropy has played an influential role in global development since the mid-twentieth century. This role has changed and evolved through successive epochs, specifically scientific development (1940s–1970s), development partnerships (1970s–2000s), and philanthrocapitalism (2000s–present) (Kumar and Brooks 2021). But throughout, philanthropic interventions have retained two mutually supporting features: support for institutional formats that safeguard and/or advance the interests of capital (Fisher 1983, Brooks and Kumar 2023) and preference for behavioural explanations for and solutions to poverty (Nally and Taylor 2016). The current philanthrocapitalism epoch is characterised by an explicit linking of philanthropic giving with profit-making in a redefinition of philanthropy as investment, and entanglement with financial actors, methods, and logics (Stotz and Lai 2018). This has been accompanied by a move to a more radical form of behaviourism enabled by developments in data science (Brooks 2021, forthcoming). This seminar will explore these trends which are exemplified by foundations’ engagement of ‘fintech’ firms as partners in development interventions to steer market behaviour (Gabor and Brooks 2017).

How to attend this seminar

This seminar is free to attend with no need to register in advance.

We welcome you to join us online on Wednesday 8 March 2023 at 1pm.

Seminar speaker

Dr Sally Brooks

Sally Brooks is an honorary fellow in the School for Business and Society and a member of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Global Development at the University of York. Her research critically examines decision making in hybrid networks formed around technocratic visions of ‘development’ and agrarian change in the Global South. She is particularly interested in processes of marketisation and financialisation of development, and the role of philanthropic foundations. Her work has been published in Economy and Society, New Political Economy, Business and Society, Sociologia Ruralis, The Journal of Peasant Studies, Third World Quarterly, Climatic Change, various edited collections, and the monograph Rice Biofortification: Lessons for Global Science and Development.