1st ed. 2019 Edition by Philipp Golka (Author)
Providing an in-depth case study on the emergence of social impact
investing in the UK, this book develops a new perspective on
financialization processes that highlights the roles of non-financial
actors. In contrast to the common view that impact investing gears
finance toward the solution of social problems, the author analyzes how
these investments create new problems and inequalities. To explain how
social impact investing became popular in British social policy despite
its unclear effectiveness, the author focuses on cooperative relations
between institutional entrepreneurs from finance and various
non-financial actors. Drawing on field theory, he shows how seemingly
unrelated social transformations – such as HM Treasury's expanding role
in public service reform – may act as resonance spaces for the spread of
finance.
Opening up a new perspective on financialization
processes in the terrain of public policy, this book invites readers to
refocus scholarship on capitalist dynamics to the meso-level. Based on
this analysis, the author also proposes ways to transform social impact
investing to increase its potential for reducing global inequalities.
