What is a noun that means the target of advocacy?
(note: one could argue that more generic answers could work too - a surgeon or a plumber can have clients and I'm sure attorneys using the title Advocate refer to cases and clients in normal parlance... but its fun to find words that can dial in abstract human roles and interactions)
An advocate has a Cause, a cause has Advocates
While initially believing this question was too broad, I believe the word cause is a complete answer, with a nearly reciprocal connection.
cause from Oxford Online Dictionaries noun
2. a principle, aim, or movement that, because of a deep commitment, one is prepared to defend or advocate.
"she devoted her life to the cause of deaf people"
To have a "cause" one must have an "one that will advocate" (well defend is close to advocate)
advocate from Oxford dictionaries
noun
1A person or thing that gives rise to an action, phenomenon, or condition.
1A person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.
‘he was an untiring advocate of economic reform’
2A person who puts a case on someone else's behalf.
‘care managers can become advocates for their clients’
verb
Publicly recommend or support.
‘voters supported candidates who advocated an Assembly’
Now, note the use of the word 'clients' ... while they ~can~ become advocates for their clients, the client relationship isn't what makes them an advocate.
( a client relationship is not defined by which services you give them but the formal relationship of agreeing to serve and be served.. in some cases the service may be advocacy other cases health care .. but a person can advocate for another without a client relationship)
What makes them an advocate is what they do for their clients
My take, a person who will be helped must have a Cause: a rise to an action, phenomenon, or condition.
An advocate argues for a cause or for a person's cause
There is never a 'who' directly, although informally that might be used, really a person serves as an advocate OF something pertaining to the person, not the person themselves but to a state of action related to the person.
.. advocate a persons election, advocate the case of innocence in court, advocate the hiring of an applicants pursuit to be hired.
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Can you be an advocate without a cause? No I think that there must be a cause .. you're not a client's advocate until they have a cause that you will advocate for.
Can something be a 'cause' (in the sense #2) without an advocate?
No, I don't think so.
You can have a problem, or a dispute, a religion, or a principle but for those to be called a 'cause' someone must be giving "support or recommendation"
- support or recommend is step different than understand or believe.