Civil Society
Civil society refers to the sphere of human activity outside government, the market economy, and the family. It includes communities, churches, voluntary associations, philanthropic organizations, and social movements. Civil society potentially constitutes a venue for reasoned discussion that bridges social differences, empowers participation in public life, and encourages deliberation concerning ethical issues pertaining to science and technology.
Development and Problems
Derived from Aristotle and applied to the modern nation-state by eighteenth-century liberal reformers, the concept of civil society came to be so closely associated with bourgeois economic and political life that Karl Marx distrusted the idea. Neo-Marxists came to endorse a public arena independent of state- or party-controlled communication, however, and contemporary social scientists generally view intermediary associations as conducive to stable democracy. As civic disengagement became widespread in the 1970s and thereafter, coupled with globalization, deregulation of industry, and the rise of new social movements, the idea of building social capital by strengthening nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other social institutions that make democracy work seemed attractive to many social thinkers and activists, especially in the former Soviet sphere and in Latin America.
Defining the boundaries of civil society proves difficult, however. Publicly funded educational institutions catalyze research and discussion, yet are part of government.
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