Introduction

To understand the relationship between the third sector and active citizenship we now need to consider the ways in which the concept of the third sector is constructed and how it is framed theoretically. The third sector is located in what has come to be known as civil society. But the concepts of both the third sector and civil society have been subject to contestation and changing emphases. This chapter begins, therefore, with discussion of the varying approaches to, and uses of, the idea of civil society with reference to specific sociopolitical contexts. This is followed by consideration of the issues raised by these different approaches. The second part of the chapter introduces the concept of the third sector, identifies ambiguities and tensions, and explains how the concept is used in the book.

Civil society

The roots of the idea of civil society lie in Western classical antiquity and the modern history of the concept can be traced back to the 17th and 18th centuries (Keane, 2005; Alexander, 2006). While the concept has slipped in and out of fashion in both academic and policy circles, there is now a plethora of literature on the subject, which includes extensive debate about its meaning and role. Of particular interest for the purposes of this book is the renewal of interest in civil society since the 1980s as a focus of intellectual curiosity, social transformation and political endeavour, since this can throw light on the way in which third sector organisations have come to be understood as central to what Salamon et al (1999) have identified as an ‘associational revolution’. Three themes stand out in this respect: first, the scope and definition of civil society activities; second, the normative dimensions of civil society; and finally, the question of how to test the claims of civil society theorists.

Scope and definition

Contemporary discussion of the scope and definition of civil society is often framed by the idea that civil society is a social sphere (or arena, realm or domain) within the wider society, with its own rationales and logic, separate from the state or the market. For example, Cohen and Arato (1994) discuss civil society as a sphere of social interaction that is located between the economy and the state, composed of the domains of intimate relations, associations, social movements and forms of public communication.