Moral Elites: The Historical Positioning of Civil Society Leaders in National Moral Economies

Informazioni relative al progetto

MORALITES

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 101114850

DOI

10.3030/101114850

Data della firma CE 5 Settembre 2023

Data di avvio 1 Gennaio 2024

Data di completamento 31 Dicembre 2028

Finanziato da

• European Research Council (ERC)

Costo totale

€ 1 486 924,00

Contributo UE

€ 1 486 924,00

Coordinato da

COPENHAGEN BUSINESS SCHOOL
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MORALITES (Moral Elites: The Historical Positioning of Civil Society Leaders in National Moral Economies)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2024-01-01 al 2026-06-30

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

MORALITES is a project that compares civil society leaders’ positions and position-takings – meaning their biographical background and career trajectories on the one hand and their espoused ideological positions on the other (hence moral elites). It focuses on four European countries: Poland, Italy, Denmark, and the UK and covers a period of c. 170 years from 1848 to the present.

Civil society elites – leaders of influential civil society organizations (CSOs) in e.g. philanthropy or the labor movement – have generally been neglected in both civil society and elite research. Only recently have researchers begun studying this group systematically. Also, research areas such as political economy and welfare state research that generally recognize the influence of social movements on e.g. collective bargaining or social policy have not paid much attention to the historical influence of this group. There is thus a lack of knowledge about this elite group and its historical influence on modern societies.

Civil society elites rely on different resources than other elite groups and they are met with different expectations. They owe their position and legitimacy not to wealth or position in a large corporation or their status as intellectuals, but primarily to the resources of civil society: Members, adherents, volunteers and voluntary donations. Still, as they ascend to the top of CSOs, they will typically develop relations with the societal elite as such which tends to influence their dispositions. This was described by the sociologist Robert Michels already at the beginning of the 20th century.

Understanding historical civil society elites’ integration into the elite, how they managed their position ‘between’ elite and the people so to speak is a highly important piece of the puzzle if we want to understand the overall development of key areas of modern societies – economic, political, and social relations. Understanding civil society elites better as groups with certain dispositions and certain ideological positions may also help us understand the ‘paths not taken’ – broadly speaking did they in certain historical junctures opt for reform or revolution, for civil society or the state as the arbiter of labor market conflicts or provider of social services.

The project focuses on critical and creative junctures such as the time leading up to WW1, the interwar period, the period of reconstruction after WW2, and the neoliberal turn from the 1970s. In each juncture, we select key influential civil society leaders and analyze both their social networks (their position) and the texts they have produced (their position-taking). We apply methods such as Social Network Analysis and Topic modeling to cover the two kinds of data.

The project aims to challenge existing interpretations of key aspects of the developmental path of modern societies. We want to show that modern societies are not only shaped by 'faceless' factors such as class relations or electoral systems but in critical junctures also by elite groups, specifically civil society elites. The project further aims to create new knowledge valuable both to those in civil society leadership positions, re. their possible historical role, their degrees of freedom and the waters they have to navigate, but also to a broader academic and general public that benefit from seeing the present in light of the past: What paths might seem barred but could possibly be taken up anew? How can civil society and their leaders use their position in the present, informed by history?

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

A central achievement was the opening conference “New perspectives on Ideas and Elites in Social Welfare Transformations in Europe” held at Copenhagen Business School on June 3 – 4 2025. The opening conference featured three renowned keynote speakers: Sam Friedman, London School of Economics, William Genieys, Sciences Po, and Annette Zimmer, University of Münster. Each provided a unique perspective on the theme of moral elites from elite research, public sector research, and civil society research. Organized in seven parallel paper sessions, the conference was well-attended by 44 researchers from inside and outside Europe. The conference provided ample opportunity for exchanging ideas and creating networks with scholars engaged in elite research, policy processes, and historical sociology. It was also a great opportunity to promote the ERC-funded project. At the end of the conference, several participants expressed interest in contributing to a special issue on the theme of moral elites.

Furthermore, the project has organized two workshops: An initial workshop – October 3-4, 2024 – with invited guests: elite scholars Christop Ellersgaard, CBS, Anton Grau Larsen, Roskilde University, and Tomasz Zarycki, University of Warsaw. The workshop focused on operationalization of the moral elites in a comparative perspective, and there were dedicated time slots for planning publications and dissemination, the project timeline, conference attendance, workshops, and the opening conference. A second workshop – October 25 and 26, 2025 – featured Thierry Rossier, University of Lausanne, as an invited guest. The first day focused on the work-in-progress seminar of Ph.D. student Andrea Zisa, on this occasion also featuring Juan Starrico, University of Cordoba, as a discussant of Andrea’s work. The second day was dedicated to Thierry’s presentation as well as a presentation of a paper draft on the Danish moral elites by the PI and post doc Morten Sivertsen. Both workshops provided invaluable feedback to the project design and further development.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

The project is still in its early phase, so there a few results to report. One result is the publication of the article "Civil society elites: managers of civic capital" in Theory and Society (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-024-09559-2) and the book chapter "The Danish Civil Society Elite 1910–2020: Continuity, Reproduction and Integration" in "Civil Society Elites - Exploring the Composition, Reproduction, Integration, and Contestation of Civil Society Actors at the Top" (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40150-3_2). These publications go beyond the state of the art. The first publications by introducing a novel conceptualization of an elite group that has not previously been conceptualized in either civil society or elite research. The second publication breaks new ground as the first publication that describes the composition, reproduction and integration of the historical Danish civil society elite and among the first publications on the civil society elite internationally. These publications will thus have an impact in civil society and elite research. The results have been reported through an interview and article with political news media (Altinget.dk) as well as through an essay as part of the Danish Democracy and Power Study: https://ps.au.dk/fileadmin/Statskundskab/Billeder/Forskning/Forskningsprojekter/Magtudredning/Essays/Tema10/Essay_af_Anders_Sevelsted___Jacob_Lunding.pdf.