Open AccessThe Perils of Institutionalization in Neoliberal Times: Results of a National Survey of Canadian Sexual Assault and Rape Crisis Centres
Author(s) -
Melanie Beres,
Barbara Crow,
Lise Gotell
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
canadian journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.357
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1710-1123
pISSN - 0318-6431
DOI - 10.29173/cjs1613
Subject(s) - institutionalisation , neoliberalism (international relations) , sociology , context (archaeology) , sexual violence , resistance (ecology) , gender studies , politics , sexual assault , political science , public administration , criminology , poison control , suicide prevention , political economy , law , medicine , paleontology , ecology , biology , environmental health
This article reports on a national survey of Canadian rape crisis and sexual assault centres conducted in 2005. We situate our results in relation to feminist literature on the perils of institutionalization. We argue that institutionalization takes on new forms in the context of neoliberalism and we emphasize the resistance of centres to under-funding and to individualized victims’ services policy frameworks. Despite significant pressures to redefine as social service delivery agencies, Canadian centres continue to engage in social change activism and define themselves as specifically feminist/pro-woman/equality-seeking organizations. Our respondents vary significantly in size and resources, yet nearly all emphasize the significant obstacle of inadequate funding and all continue to rely heavily on the unpaid work of (usually women) volunteers to do more with less.