So, "civil society" = "society" - (the state + the market)? That's a conception of social relations that is even less accurate than Hegel's & left-Hegelians' that Marx criticized ("the standpoint of the old materialism is 'civil' society; the standpoint of the new is human society, or associated humanity") & is more like Tocqueville's.
***** Beyond Civil Society
John Ehrenberg
[from New Politics, vol. 6, no. 4 (new series), whole no. 24, Winter 1998]
...Two conceptions of civil society dominate modern social and political thought, and both are rooted in liberal democratic theory. It was Adam Smith who first articulated the classical bourgeois understanding of it as a market-organized sphere of necessity which is driven by the self-interested motion of individual proprietors, but Smith drew heavily on Locke's earlier position that civil society is constituted by property, labor, exchange and consumption. The rapid development of markets soon encouraged bourgeois political economists to theorize civil society as an autonomous self-governing sphere which can transform individual strivings for particular advantage into the public good. Hegel built his theory of the state and civil society on this understanding, and Marx's development of Hegel continues to inform the thinking of much of the left.
The second, and related, strand of liberal thinking is Tocqueville's notion that civil society is an intermediate sphere of voluntary association sustained by an informal culture of self-organization and cooperation. His finding that Americans are uniquely disposed to associate in defense of local interests has rested at the heart of the effort to reconcile liberty with equality for some time. This view informed a good deal of the civil society literature of Eastern Europe and, supplemented by Madison, has become integrated with pluralism and communitarianism in the United States.
These two intellectual currents interact with a third, which at its most vulgar and simple-minded suggests that "we" should be nice to each other. Politicians should get some training in "civil discourse," local television stations shouldn't lead off every newscast with lurid talk about crime and violence, political campaigns shouldn't be so "negative," and we shouldn't reach for a gun after being cut off on the highway. After 15 years of telling the lower orders how to behave, the language of civil society is now available to teach us manners....
<http://www.wpunj.edu/~newpol/issue24/ehrenb24.htm> *****
Folks at the World Bank & the like love discoursing on civil society a la Wolfe:
***** What is Civil Society?
Civil society consists of the groups and organizations, both formal and informal, which act independently of the state and market to promote diverse interests in society. Social capital, the informal relations and trust which bring people together to take action, is crucial to the success of any non-governmental organization because it provides opportunities for participation and gives voice to those who may be locked out of more formal avenues to affect change.
While individual groups form the building blocks of civil society, the concept's value lies in the extent and density of relations among groups as well as the synergy between civil society, state and market (Evans 1996, Renshaw 1994). Therefore, social capital is an integral part of civil society at the micro and macro levels. Civil society is not a constant, rather it is continuously evolving and its roles vary in different contexts and at different levels of economic development.
Civil Society and Social Capital
Social Capital within a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
Trust and willingness to cooperate allows people to form groups and associations, which facilitate the realization of shared goals.
Grameen Bank (Bangladesh) lends money to rural poor, especially women, at a daily loan volume of $1.5 million and has a 98% repayment rate. The organization was started in 1976 by Muhammad Yunus, who lent money to 42 persons because he trusted they would repay it. Since then members have developed rules to maximize repayment of loans, but trust still plays a critical role in the organization's success, particularly in the absence of collateral (Uphoff, Esman and Krishna, 1997).
Social Capital and Civil Society Can Promote Welfare and Economic Development
When the state is weak or not interested, civil society and the social capital it engenders can be a crucial provider of informal social insurance and can facilitate economic development.
Six-S (Burkina Faso) is a loose federation of rural organizations supported by more formal international NGOs. Social capital has helped Six-S to mobilize over 1 million villagers in 1,500 communities in West Africa in an effort to create better agriculture opportunities during the dry season. (Uphoff, Esman and Krishna, 1997).
Social Capital Across Sectors
State, market and civil society can increase their effectiveness by contributing jointly to the provision of welfare and economic development. The success of this synergy is based on complementary rather than substitutable inputs, trust, freedom of choice and incentives of parties to cooperate (Evans 1996, Ostrom 1996).
Plan Puebla (Mexico) is a joint project between farmer groups, university, government and private institutions to develop appropriate technology for farmers growing rain-fed maize. It has increased yields and incomes for almost 50,000 farmers, generated institutional changes and has been a model for other rain-fed agricultural programs (Uphoff, Esman and Krishna, 1997).
Social capital facilitates exchanges of resources and skills across sectors. Through such exchanges, civil society can serve as the beneficiary (via philanthropy, tax exemptions and management training) as well as the benefactor (offering political support, policy recommendations and service provision).
Next: Social Capital and Civil Society Can Strengthen Democracy or Promote Change
<http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/sources/civil1.htm> *****
Neoliberalism & Tocquevillian discourse on civil society have gone hand in hand in rich nations as well, for the latter helps to dismantle the welfare state, thus advancing the former; and we are now leaping such benefits of civil society as "faith-based initiative."
Yoshie