What is “civil society?”

It is a name for all those institutions that, though private in character, perform public functions. As used by social scientists, civil society refers to clubs, social organizations, churches, private businesses, political parties, and more. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Eastern Europe found itself bereft of civil society institutions, since the communist state had suppressed civil society out of fear that it would spawn rivals to state power. The fear was well-grounded. The Polish labor movement, Solidarity, for example, was a civil society institution that eventually challenged state power. In the United States, civil society thrives and is so familiar as to be almost invisible. The King’s College has, however, a strong interest in helping non-state institutions to thrive. Alexis de Tocqueville said that civil society is essential to the health of our democracy and the preservation of our liberty. Civil society appears in our list of eight strategic institutions that we prepare our graduates to lead. In this case, the term overlaps with other institutions, such as the Church, that we list separately on the same list. What we mean by civil society, however, is simple: the voluntary, private organizations that together do so much to shape the quality of life in our society. We are thinking of organizations such as the Girl Scouts; the Red Cross; the Audubon Society; political action committees; think tanks; philanthropic foundations; public charities; public interest lobbies; and more. Most of American higher education essentially ignores the task of preparing students for careers in civil society. We think civil society is crucial.

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