Explaining Civil Society Development : A Social Origins Approach

This book represents the result of a 25-year saga undertaken to rescue a crucial component of the world’s social and organizational infrastructure from the virtual obscurity to which it was consigned by the world’s academic institutions; policy discussions; media coverage; and statistical systems. Released at last, enter the civil society sector, that vast collection of private but not-for-profit schools, clinics, hospitals, social service agencies, symphonies, human rights groups, environment organizations, think tanks, professional associations, disaster relief and development organizations, and dozens more groups that make up what is variously termed the nonprofit, voluntary, noncommercial, civil, social, or nongovernmental sector and the charitable giving and volunteering that help to support it. Social origins theory goes beyond the prevailing explanations of civil social development stressing the presence or absence of various sentiments or preferences by emphasizing the embeddedness of civil society institutions in prevailing power relationships in society as these relationships evolve over time. Salamon, Sokolowski, and Haddock hope that their insights into understanding the global civil society sector succeed in bridging the gap that has long existed between the study of civil society and the study of the broader dynamics of social reality, with which it has been so intimately intertwined. If so, it will have served its purpose. Annotation ©2017 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)