ABSTRACT
Philanthropy is increasingly a part of voluntarism, of free associations, the sort of bottom-up activities characteristic of democratic orders only. Philanthropy is now an expectation by the broad masses of American people as an element built into the capitalist marketplace. The place of publishing in philanthropy is essentially attuned to these three elements: private enterprise, social welfare, and religious conversion and civilizing. Philanthropy is linked to both capitalism and democracy: to the former as a mechanism for distribution of wealth from the top down, and as a means of achieving direct control of the process of changing social structures without government intervention. Philanthropy is increasingly a part of voluntarism, of free associations, the sort of bottom-up activities characteristic of democratic orders only. In taking a close look at the professionalization of philanthropy, the scholarly publishing world is taking the measure of how the life of ideas reflects and also participates in the changing environment of social research and voluntary action.
