Civil Society: The Critical History of an Idea

Read Chapter One.

"A sweeping and illuminating analysis of the evolving concept of civil society.

Ehrenberg locates understandings of civil society in the context of historically changing relations of state, economy, and community and helps us to understand the ambiguities and even contradictions which beriddle the oft-evoked term."
—Frances Fox Piven, CUNY Graduate Center

"Ehrenberg's work is a book that anyone studying the third sector shoul dhave on his or her bookshelf."
—Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary & Nonprofit Organizations

"No one involved in the current debates over civil society-and there can only be a few serious scholars who are not-will want to miss John Ehrenberg's trenchant and thrill-packed (well, for us theorists anyway) work. A major contribution to the history of political theory by one of the brightest stars in the critical galaxy."
—Bertoll Ollman, Author of Dialectical Investigations

"An absorbing study of a seminal idea in the history of political theory . . . This is a beautifully written work with an important critical perspective. It makes a genuine scholarly contribution."
—Stephen Eric Bronner, Rutgers University

In the absence of noble public goals, admired leaders, and compelling issues, many warn of a dangerous erosion of civil society. Are they right? What are the roots and implications of their insistent alarm? How can public life be enriched in a period marked by fraying communities, widespread apathy, and unprecedented levels of contempt for politics? How should we be thinking about civil society?

Civil Society examines the historical, political, and theoretical evolution of how civil society has been understood for the past two and a half millennia. From Aristotle and the Enlightenment philosophers to Colin Powell's Volunteers for America, Ehrenberg provides an indispensable analysis of the possibilities-and limits-of what this increasingly important idea can offer to contemporary political affairs.

Civil Society is the winner of the Michael J. Harrington Award from the Caucus for a New Political Science of APSA for the best book published during 1999.