Philanthropy and the Making of a New Moral Order: A History of Developing Community

Abstract Community development, or the socio-economic transformation of local communities, has been a significant focus organizational ethics. Such community development programmes—whether led by state, civil society, businesses—are animated modernization and have involved, I argue, production new moral order. As part which, communities were imagined in particular ways, historically. Drawing on periodization history philanthropy Tata Group (India’s leading multinational conglomerate) from 1860s onwards, outline four stages involved this order—each with distinct formulation community—as India’s development. The shifts imaginaries community, conclude, justified legitimized elites as wider nation-building efforts.