Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Book Review: Michael Edwards SSmall Change: Why Business Won't Save the World


"No lasting change has been successful without large numbers of people acting consciously and collectively around human values of solidarity and social justice, not market values. Markets are great ways to do some things, but not to fashion communities of caring and compassion"
Michael Edwards Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World.
On one of my other blogs on civil society and the NGO world I have published a review of Michael Edwards's latest book, which is one of the best books I have read in 2010. In the book Small Change: Why Business Won't Save the World Michael Edwards questions the wisdom of applying business and corporate thinking in the world of NGOs and civil society.

Small Change is a wise and radical book that challenges many of the taken for granted assumptions that dominate thinking and practice in the world of not-for-profits and civil society. Edwards argues that business and market thinking has too much influence over not-for-profit organisations and civil society groups.

Edwards rejects the role of markets, business and business thinking as solutions for the social ills of society and the challenges facing the not-for-profit and civil society sector. He contends that civil society and NGO groups must turn away from the lures of the market and business and reassert the importance of independent citizen action. He is deeply skeptical about importing business approaches into the nonprofit sector.

You can read the full review here.

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