Civic Society

Poverty as a result of increasing inequality in the world is of grave concern to human society. Its increasing presence is an indicator that the state and the market are continuing to fail in addressing the issue of poverty and are rather acting in ways that make it increase. In this context, it may be useful to understand the civic space that citizens enjoy apart from the state and market and how civic space is utilized to address poverty. Institutionally, civic society takes a variety of forms, such as nongovernmental organizations, people’s movements, workers’ unions, cooperatives, corporate social responsibility (CSR), the media, and local committees or neighborhoods. There is a thin line between “civic” society and “civil” society. Some scholars view civil society as a ...