 | ISTR Sixth International Conference Toronto, Canada / July 11-14, 2004 Contesting Citizenship and Civil Society in a Divided World |
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| Abstracts |
Nonprofit Theory and the Shifting Mixed Economy of Care
by
Steven Rathgeb Smith
University of Washington
Nonprofit Theory and the Shifting Mixed Economy of Care In the 1970s and 1980s, pioneering research was done by several nonprofit scholars including Hansmann, Weisbrod, Salamon, James, Rose-Ackerman and Steinberg on the underlying reasons for the creation of nonprofit organizations. Since this period, much discussion and research has been undertaken that builds upon this initial work. Despite this additional research, the theories articulated by these scholars have remained very influential. My paper seeks to revisit these theories and test them using empirical research on alcohol and drug treatment agencies. These organizations are a particularly good type of service to test theoretical assumptions about nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit treatment programs rose rapidly in number in the 1980s and into the 1990s but have declined sharply in the recent years. The reasons for this rise and then decline --as well as the changing mix of nonprofit and for-profit programs—offer valuable insights into the utility of different theoretical explanations of nonprofit formation. The field of alcohol and drug treatment is also interesting from a scholarly perspective because of the prominent role of informal, self-help groups. I will basically present an institutionalist explanation for the rapidly changing position of nonprofit treatment programs. The paper will have a historical section but its main focus will be on the more recent history and development of the field. The paper will be based upon my ongoing research project on residential substance abuse treatment programs in Washington and Oregon. (This project is supported by the Pew Charitable Trust.) This research includes intensive case studies of over 25 agencies and extensive archival data in public, nonprofit and for-profit agencies involved in substance abuse treatment.
Date received: October 10, 2003
Copyright © 2003 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # camp-03.