Philanthropy in Brazil and the UK: Wealth, Responsibility and the Pursuit of Social Change by Economic Elites Jessica Sklair Correa Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Anthropology. Goldsmiths College, University of London. 2017 Declaration of Authorship I, Jessica Sklair Correa, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: ___________________________________ Date: _______________ 2 Acknowledgements This thesis has taken an unintentionally long time to come to fruition. Many people have influenced the development of my ideas and provided invaluable practical (and emotional) support along the way. Firstly, I am deeply grateful to everyone in my fieldsites who agreed to be interviewed, to let me work or volunteer alongside them, to show me around their organisations and projects or just to chat about the topic of my study. The trust, openness and curiosity of these many participants in my research made this project possible. In Brazil, particular thanks to the staff working on the Programa Nova Geração (PNG) while I was in the field (especially Tatiana Piva, Ana Biglione and Marina Magalhães Oliveira) and to Tatiana Antunes de Andrade and Cindy Lessa. Claudio and Beca Rezende Barbosa were exceptionally generous with their time, and my conversations with them had a deep influence on my thinking. Most of all, my thanks go to Daniela Nascimento Fainberg, co-founder of the PNG, who opened countless doors for me in the field and has been consistently supportive of my work and research on elite philanthropy for over a decade. In the UK, thanks to everyone then working at the Institute for Philanthropy, and especially to Sal LaSpada and Fenella Rouse, for giving me the opportunity to see the philanthropy sector from the inside. Thanks to Beth Breeze for showing me around the philanthropic sites of Canterbury, and drawing my attention to the reality that “philanthropy is everywhere”. The friendship of both Kelly Michel and Katherine Lorenz began in my fieldsites, but has lasted far beyond them. Both have been invaluable in teaching me (and challenging my ideas) about philanthropy, wealth and the family dynamics of both. Steve Nugent has been an unfailingly patient and supportive supervisor, guiding me in the right directions and never losing faith that I would get there in the end. Thanks to my colleagues at Goldsmiths (especially Eeva Keskula, Martin Fotta and Theodoros Rakopoulos), and to Heitor Frúgoli Jr. and Anna Catarina Morawska Vianna, for 3 keeping me in the academic loop in Brazil. Thanks also to Paul Gilbert, who was a source of much intellectual inspiration and encouragement in the final stages of writing up this thesis. I am also very grateful for the financial support of the Royal Anthropological Institute (Emslie Horniman/Sutasoma Award 2008) and the University of London Central Research Fund during the fieldwork stage of this project. Thank you to my parents, Leslie Sklair and Doro Marden, for teaching me how to look critically at the world and for help in all shapes and sizes (including a lot of grandparenting) during this project. Thanks also to my sisters Aphra and Tillie Sklair - not least for reflection on shared experiences in the philanthropy sector – and to their partners, Al Tempest and Joe Wykes, and to Denise Gomez. Roberto Correa deserves my greatest thanks for his steadfast love and support, in both languages, during the research and writing up of this study. Finally, thanks to our twins, Frida and Beatriz. Their arrival derailed this project temporarily, but since I got back on track, they have reminded me every day of why it matters. 4 Abstract This thesis explores the philanthropy of economic elites in Brazil and the UK, positing their practice as part of a global elite philanthropic project. It argues that this project serves to further the aims of global capitalism, while attempting to mitigate the negative effects of capitalism’s fallout. Although the historical development of elite philanthropy in Brazil and the UK has been markedly different, accounting for technical differences in contemporary practice in these countries, recent decades have seen attempts to build an institutionalised philanthropic sector in Brazil based on British (and American) models. Today, the conceptual and ideological framework for the design of philanthropy in both countries is remarkably similar. In ethnographic enquiry into this common project, practices under the banners of ‘philanthrocapitalism’ and ‘strategic philanthropy’ emerge as the expression of deeply held ideologies of social change. These relate to the transposition of corporate strategies to philanthropy, to market-based solutions to social problems, and to attempts to eradicate poverty via better incorporation of the poor into existing economic structures. This enquiry, however, reveals how other aspects of elite experience also become entangled in the philanthropic project. In Brazil and the UK, elites use philanthropy to forge positive identities of wealth, and as a tool for managing inheritance. Among Brazilian family businesses, historical family narratives of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility aid business succession processes, in attempts to keep family firms – and family capital – intact with the passing of time. Finally, this thesis explores the work of philanthropic intermediaries, and the central role played by philanthropy advising and donor education programmes in shaping and disseminating philanthropic trends. Ethnography among intermediaries, however, reveals myriad ambiguities in their work. These serve to highlight elite philanthropy’s inability to confront the structures of inequality inherent to global capitalism, and the corresponding limits to its own project. 5 Table of Contents List of Figures ……………………………...…………………………………….... 10 List of Abbreviations ……………………………………………………………… 11 Glossary ………………………………………………………………….………… 12 Introduction: Connections Between Elite Universes …….…………………….... 15 Fieldwork Settings: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and London ……..… 16 Thesis Outline and Key Themes …………………………………… 19 Elites in this Study: Definitions ………………………………….… 22 Research on Economic Elites ………………………………………. 25 Philanthropy: Concept and Practice ………………………………... 28 Debates on Elite Philanthropy ……………………………………… 32 Parallel Perspectives: Elite Philanthropy in Brazil and the UK ….… 37 Anthropology of Elites: Critique vs. Ethnography or Critical Ethnography?……………………………………………………..… 39 PART ONE: Elite Philanthropists and Their Practice in Brazil and the UK ... 43 Chapter 1: The Development of Elite Philanthropy in Brazil …...….……..... 44 Origins of Elite Brazilian Philanthropy …………………………..… 45 Elite Philanthropy and the Emerging Third Sector: Opposing Objectives …………………………………………………..………. 47 Elite Philanthropy and the Third Sector under Neoliberalism ……... 50 The Emergence of CSR and Institutionalised Philanthropy ………... 53 Promoting Philanthropy: The Intermediary Organisations ………… 56 The Consolidation of Institutionalised Elite Philanthropy …………. 60 Chapter 2: The Development of Elite Philanthropy in the UK ……………... 64 Origins of Elite Philanthropy in the UK ………………………….… 65 The Golden Age: Philanthropists in Victorian Britain and Beyond ... 67 Consensus Politics, the Welfare State and the Voluntary Sector ….. 70 6 Philanthropic Foundations in the Twentieth Century ……………… 71 The End of the Post-War Consensus: Ascendancy of the Super-Rich and the Emergence of CSR ………………………………………… 73 Welfare and the Voluntary Sector under New Labour …………..… 76 The Continuing Rise of the Super-Rich …………..……………...… 77 New Labour and a New Philanthropy? …………………………..… 79 Chapter 3: Size, Scope and Subsidies: The Philanthropic Landscape in Brazil and the UK ………………………………………………………… 83 Data on Philanthropy in Brazil ……………………………………... 83 Data on Philanthropy in the UK ………………………………….… 87 Foundation Philanthropy in Brazil, the UK and the USA: A Comparative Overview ……………………….………………..… 91 Legal Frameworks for the Transfer of Wealth: Inheritance and Inheritance Tax …………………………………………………...… 95 Brazil: Exclusivity in the Tax Incentive System for Charitable Giving …………………………………………………………….… 96 The UK: Regressive Incentives for Giving ……………..………..… 99 Broader Implications: The Philanthropic Privilege of the Wealthy . 102 PART TWO: Wealth and Philanthropic Identities …………………………... 104 Chapter 4: Ways of Giving and Ways of Being Wealthy: Philanthropy as an Expression of Elite Identity …………………………………...… 105 Beyond Altruism vs. Self-Interest: Theorising Gifts from the Wealthy …………………………………………………………… 109 Being the Right Sort of Wealthy Person: ‘Giving Back’ and ‘Making a Difference’ ……………………………………………………...… 113 Legitimacy and Significance in Philanthropic Identities ……….… 119 Philanthropy Behind Closed Doors: Rejecting Identities of Wealth..122 Inheriting Wealth: Philanthropy as a Meaningful Response ……… 124 7 Chapter 5: “Social Responsibility is in our DNA”: Philanthropy and CSR in Family Business Narratives …………………………………...… 130 Campo Doce: Case Study of a ‘Socially Responsible’ Family Business …………………………………………………………… 132 The Figueira Family Narrative: Philanthropy in the Colônia …..… 134 Obligations, Benevolence and Corporate Interest: Blurred Boundaries in the Family Narrative …………………………………………… 138 Labour Rights: Challenging Relationships of Hierarchy and Paternalism ………………………………………………………... 145 New Labels for Old Practices: