A Conceptual History of Civil Society
From Greek Beginnings to the End of Marx
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23212923 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Boris Dewiel (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Publication date | 2008-02-22 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Crossing boundaries (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1711-053X • E-ISSN: 1718-4487 |
| Publisher | University of Alberta Libraries (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.21971/p7mk5n |
| OpenAlex | W1575620427 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 11 |
The idea of civil society has undergone a renaissance in recent years, but missing from this literature is an explanation for its historical transformation in meaning. Originally civil society was synonymous with political society, but the common modem meaning emphasizes autonomy from the state. This paper traces this historical transformation within the context of the history of ideas, and suggests that the critical event was an eighteenth-century reaction against the rationalistic universalism associated with the French Enlightenment. The continued significance of the question of universalism is suggested by the fact that universalistic Marxist Leninist theories provided the ideological underpinnings for the destruction of civil society in Eastern European nations. The paper concludes that three elements are essential to the modern understanding of civil society: its autonomy from the state, its interdependence with the state, and the pluralism of values, ideals and ways of life embodied in its institutions.
Autonomy · Civil society · Conceptual history · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Ideology · Meaning (existential) · Pluralism (philosophy) · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science) · Universalism · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Political theory and Gramsci
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
The Idea Of An Overlapping Consensus
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859)
On the Jewish Question
Preface to a Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
The Burke-Smith Problem and Late Eighteenth-Century Political and Economic Thought
Civil society and political theory
Making Democracy Work
Herder and ethnography
The Scottish Enlightenment and its mixed bequest
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |