The aim of this paper is to set out a critique of the prevailing academic and government accounts of ‘public participation’. This critique is drawn from the work of the British anarchist Colin Ward, which we argue is significant because it provides an alternative to state-led or market-led models of public participation. Both of the latter models subject individuals to external forms of authority (state or market). By contrast, Ward reminds us that the working-class tradition of free and autonomous associations, illustrated notably by the friendly societies, established a different understanding of public participation, one which presupposes the actual running and maintaining of the very services that the public relied upon through the key values of mutual aid and self-help. We describe the nature of these associations and suggest that, historically, they have been the most accomplished alternatives to state-led and market-led approaches to public participation.
AlcockP“Participation or pathology: contradictory tensions in area-based policy”Social Policy and Society200438796
2.
BaggottR“A funny thing happened on the way to the forum? Reforming patient and public involvement in the NHS in England”Public Administration200583533551
3.
BarnesM“Researching public participation”Local Government Studies1999256075
4.
BarnesMKnopsANewmanJSullivanH“Recent research: the micro-politics of deliberation”Contemporary Politics20041093100
5.
BarnesMNewmanJKnopsASullivanH“Constituting ‘the public’ in public participation”Public Administration200381379399
6.
BarnesMNewmanJSullivanH“Discursive arenas: deliberation and the constitution of identity in public participation at a local level”Social Movement Studies20065193207
7.
BeresfordP“User involvement in research and evaluation: liberation or regulation?”Social Policy and Society2002195105
BochelCBochelHSomervillePWorleyC“Marginalized or enabled voices? ‘User participation’ in policy and practice”Social Policy and Society20077210201
12.
BradshawP“Service user involvement in the NHS in England: genuine user participation or a dogma driven folly?”Journal of Nursing Management200816673681
13.
BurnhamP“New Labour and the politics of depoliticisation”British Journal of Politics and International Relations20013127149
ChristiansenJ“ ‘We are all leaders’: anarchism and the narrative of the I.W.W.”WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society200912387401
16.
ClarenceEPainterC“Public services under New Labour: collaborative discourses and local networking”Public Policy and Administration199812822
17.
ClarkeJ“New Labour's citizens: activated, empowered, responsibilized, abandoned?”Critical Social Policy200525447463
18.
CohenSVisions of Social Control1985CambridgePolity Press
19.
ConradECassarLChristieMFazeyI“Hearing but not listening? A participatory assessment of public participation in planning”Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy201129761782
20.
CornerJPelsDMedia and the Restyling of Politics: Consumerism, Celebrity and Cynicism2008LondonSage
21.
CrouchDWardCThe Allotment: Its Landscape and Culture1997NottinghamFive Leaves Publications
22.
DaviesAPublic Relations Democracy: Politics, Public Relations and the Mass Media in Britain2002ManchesterManchester University Press
EwingK D“The function of trade unions”Industrial Law Journal200534122
27.
ExworthyMHalfordSProfessionalism and the New Public Management1999Milton Keynes, BucksOpen University Press
28.
Fones-WolfESelling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism: 1945–601995Champaign, ILUniversity of Illinois Press
29.
Freedom 2012, “The TUC: state lackeys” Freedom79 October, page 1
30.
FungA“Varieties of participation in complex governance”Public Administration Review2006666675
31.
GardnerPThe Lost Elementary Schools of Victorian England1984Beckenham, KentCroom Helm
32.
GautneyH“Between anarchism and autonomist Marxism”WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society200912467487
33.
GoodeLJurgen Habermas: Democracy and the Public Sphere2005LondonPluto Press
34.
GoodwayDAnarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow2012Oakland, CAPM Press
35.
GorskyM“The growth and distribution of Friendly Societies in the early C19”Economic History Review19881489511
36.
GosdenP H J HThe Friendly Societies in England 1815–18751961ManchesterManchester University Press
37.
GosdenP H J HSelf-Help: Voluntary Associations in 19th Century Britain1973LondonB T Batsford
38.
GreenD GWorking Class Patients and the Medical Establishment: Self-help in Britain from the Mid-nineteenth Century to 19481985LondonMaurice Temple Smith
39.
HamC“The coalition government's plans for the NHS in England”British Medical Journal2010341c3790
40.
HarrisonSMortM“Which champions, which people? Public and user involvement in health care as a technology of legitimisation”Social Policy and Administration1998326070
HudsonMFinance Capitalism and its Discontents2012New YorkISLET Publishers
47.
HumphriesSHooligans or Rebels? An Oral History of Working-class Childhood and Youth: 1889–19391981OxfordBasil Blackwell
48.
InnesJBookerD“Reframing public participation: strategies for the C21”Planning Theory and Practice20045419436
49.
KropotkinPMutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution2009EdinburghAK Press
50.
LandauerGRevolution and Other Writings2010Oaklands, CAPM Press
51.
LaneJ ENew Public Management2000LondonRoutledge
52.
LasswellHLernerDThe Comparative Study of Elites2011New YorkLiterary Licensing
53.
LewisJInthornSWahl-JorgensenKCitizens or Consumers? The Media and the Decline of Public Participation2005Milton Keynes, BucksOpen University Press
54.
LippmannWPublic Opinion2010New YorkBN Publishing
55.
LitvaACoastJDonovanJEylesJSheperdMTacchiJAbelsonJMorganK“The public is too subjective: public involvement different levels of healthcare decision-making”Social Science and Medicine20025418251837
56.
LowesLHulattIInvolving Service Users in Health and Social Care Research2005LondonRoutledge
57.
LowndesVSullivanH“Like a horse and carriage or a fish on a bicycle? How well do local partnerships and public participation go together?”Local Government Studies2004305173
58.
LowndesVPratchettLStokerG“Trends in public participation: part 2—citizens' perspectives”Public Administration200179445455
59.
LowndesVPratchettLStokerG“Diagnosing and remedying the failings of official participation schemes: the CLEAR framework”Social Policy and Society20065281291
60.
McKayIMutual Aid: An Introduction and Evaluation2011EdinburghAK Press
61.
MardenPThe Decline of Politics: Governance, Globalisation and the Public Sphere2003Aldershot, HantsAshgate
62.
MartinG“ ‘Ordinary people only’: knowledge, representativeness and the publics of public participation in healthcare”Sociology of Health and Illness2008303554
GorskyM“The growth and distribution of Friendly Societies in the early C19”Economic History Review19881489511
67.
GosdenP H J HThe Friendly Societies in England 1815–18751961ManchesterManchester University Press
68.
GosdenP H J HSelf-Help: Voluntary Associations in 19th Century Britain1973LondonB T Batsford
69.
GreenD GWorking Class Patients and the Medical Establishment: Self-help in Britain from the Mid-nineteenth Century to 19481985LondonMaurice Temple Smith
70.
HamC“The coalition government's plans for the NHS in England”British Medical Journal2010341c3790
71.
HarrisonSMortM“Which champions, which people? Public and user involvement in health care as a technology of legitimisation”Social Policy and Administration1998326070
HudsonMFinance Capitalism and its Discontents2012New YorkISLET Publishers
78.
HumphriesSHooligans or Rebels? An Oral History of Working-class Childhood and Youth: 1889–19391981OxfordBasil Blackwell
79.
InnesJBookerD“Reframing public participation: strategies for the C21”Planning Theory and Practice20045419436
80.
KropotkinPMutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution2009EdinburghAK Press
81.
LandauerGRevolution and Other Writings2010Oaklands, CAPM Press
82.
LaneJ ENew Public Management2000LondonRoutledge
83.
LasswellHLernerDThe Comparative Study of Elites2011New YorkLiterary Licensing
84.
LewisJInthornSWahl-JorgensenKCitizens or Consumers? The Media and the Decline of Public Participation2005Milton Keynes, BucksOpen University Press
85.
LippmannWPublic Opinion2010New YorkBN Publishing
86.
LitvaACoastJDonovanJEylesJSheperdMTacchiJAbelsonJMorganK“The public is too subjective: public involvement different levels of healthcare decision-making”Social Science and Medicine20025418251837
87.
LowesLHulattIInvolving Service Users in Health and Social Care Research2005LondonRoutledge
88.
LowndesVSullivanH“Like a horse and carriage or a fish on a bicycle? How well do local partnerships and public participation go together?”Local Government Studies2004305173
89.
LowndesVPratchettLStokerG“Trends in public participation: part 2—citizens' perspectives”Public Administration200179445455
90.
LowndesVPratchettLStokerG“Diagnosing and remedying the failings of official participation schemes: the CLEAR framework”Social Policy and Society20065281291
91.
McKayIMutual Aid: An Introduction and Evaluation2011EdinburghAK Press
92.
MardenPThe Decline of Politics: Governance, Globalisation and the Public Sphere2003Aldershot, HantsAshgate
93.
MartinG“ ‘Ordinary people only’: knowledge, representativeness and the publics of public participation in healthcare”Sociology of Health and Illness2008303554
