Civil Society

Abstract

The task of defining the concept of civil society is far from straightforward. Within the history of social and political thought, one is confronted with an abundance of conflicting and 'competing definitions' of this term. This lack of definitional clarity indicates that '[i]n the social sciences, there is no consensus as to the theoretical and empirical separation of political, economic and social relations' (Abercrombie, Hill, and Turner, 2000: 48). It is far from obvious in which particular sphere, or set of spheres, civil society is located and on what grounds it can be distinguished from other domains of human reality. Yet, irrespective of its definitional ambiguity and referential elasticity, the concept of civil society has hadand, arguably, continues to havea significant impact upon contemporary discourses, not only in the humanities and social sciences but also in both mainstream and alternative politics. In a general sense, civil society may be 'best understood as a confrontation with the very possibility of society itself' (Beyers, 2011: 3)that is, as an intersubjectively constructed, discursively constituted, democratically organized, and publicly accessible participatory realm in which the normative parameters underpinning particular sets of social arrangements are at stake.

A New Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere? With, against, and beyond Habermas

“… Ibid., p. 157 (italics in original).59 Ibid., p. 157 (italics in original).60 SeeCohen and Arato (1992). See alsoSusen (2021).61 Habermas (2022b), p. 157 (italics in original).62 Ibid., p. 157 (italics in original).63 Ibid., p. 157 (italics in original).64 Ibid., p. 157 (italics in original).…”