Civic or commercial? Adam Ferguson's concept of civil society
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6252839 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Varty (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 29-48 |
| Publication date | 1997-03-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Democratization (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13510349708403500 |
| OpenAlex | W2015077376 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 13 |
The essay begins with a critique of current civil society theory which is seen to underplay the importance of the economy, particularly the market, to civil society. It is argued that economic relations act as a bulwark against the encroachment of the state, but in turn threaten to atomize the social within civil society. The question is then posed: if it is the market that defends civil society from the state, what is it that can defend civil society from the market? This tension is examined through the work of Adam Ferguson. The essay concludes by highlighting two insights that Ferguson provides, which are of immediate relevance to contemporary theorizing on civil society and its relation to the emergence of democratic politics: (1) his unconventional account of how the market may lay the foundations for despotism; and (2) his insistence that institutional defences such as the rule of law are not, in themselves, sufficient as defences of liberty
Civil society · Democracy · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Relation (database · Relevance (law · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Political Economy and Marxism
| Citations per year | 0.26 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1999 - 2022 (24) |
| Highly cited | No |