Civil society: In today’s article we will discuss civil society. Here we will cover the definition of civil society, the theory of civil society, the characteristics of civil society, and the role of civil society.
In today’s world, the concept of Civil Society is widely discussed. Civil society plays a vital role in preserving the democratic system, bringing proper development, increasing social awareness and education, and making the state apparatus more effective and efficient.
As the global democratization process accelerates, the need and importance of this society is increasing rapidly. There is no alternative to the role of civil society in making the state a welfare state.
The concept of civil society can be obtained from the writings of the famous philosopher Hobbes in the seventeenth century. Later, famous Scottish historian Adam Ferguson expressed his ideas about civil society, its nature, and its characteristics in his book An Essay on the History of Civil Society.
In the light of social organization, Morgan divided human society into two main parts. One is the ancient society and the other is the modern civil society. He referred to the first type of society as Societas and the second as Civitas. The discussion about civil society started through the book Social Contract by the famous French philosopher Rousseau.
Civil society as a kind of moral force stands between the state and the people and protects the society and the people from the misrule of the state. That is, civil society works towards the establishment of good governance and proper socio-economic development.
In this case, they deal with political parties either as allies or rivals in achieving their goals. As the democratization process accelerates worldwide, the need and importance of this society is increasing rapidly. Civil society has no choice in making the state a public welfare state.
Definition of civil society
The English word Civility means politeness or politeness. And the word Civil means polite or civil. So, in the literal sense, polite or modest people can be called civil society.
While defining civil society, the famous sociologist Anthony Giddens mentions in his book entitled Sociology, “Civil society is a realm intermediate between the family and the state. The key institutions of civil society are; voluntary association, mass media and print media, professional associations, and trade unions.”
According to UNDP, “Civil society is the arena where social movements are born and developed.”
According to T. Arthur, “Civil society is a collection of social organizations that enjoy autonomy from the state, and one of their many goals is to influence the state on behalf of their members.”
“Civil society is the bedrock of materialism, the individual’s struggle against the collective, and the extreme individualism of modern society,” stated Karl Marx.
Justice Adams said about civil society, “The concept of civil society originated helping to further develop the social contract doctrine. From the documental depiction of state anarchy in the last few decades to the concept of civil society from the intellectuals of Western Europe in the eighteenth century. The concept of ‘State of nature’ has been revived.”
Virgil Smith in his essay Civil Society and the Rule of Law says, “Civil society means the first weakness to be overcome in terms of social and political aspects of Bangladesh.
Finally, it can be said that a civil society is a society rich in democratic spirit. Here respected individuals of various professions are always striving to achieve the welfare of all. This society is determined to establish human rights and the rule of law, build a society free from terrorism and corruption, tolerance, free expression of opinion, and a balanced economic system.
Theoretical Background of Civil Society
Scottish Renaissance theorist Adam Ferguson was the first to use the term civil society. The suffix civil society has no exact Bengali equivalent. In the 1990s, some used the term ‘civil society’ as a synonym for ‘civil society’. This word has now become almost accepted as a Bengali synonym.
The concept of civil society has been widely debated among thinkers, in the political arena and sociology. A self-organized association of educated middle-class citizens of a state that unites people of various ideological paths, professions, and classes in the common interest of the society can simply be called civil society. Citizens here mean not only the citizens of the city but the entire population of the state.
The origin of the concept of civil society or our society is taken from the writings of the Greek philosopher Aristotle of the fourteenth century BC. At that time, the state and the urban society were considered civil society.
The position of civil society has generally been considered with the role of civil society in the interrelationship between state expansion and state structure. Classical philosophers such as Aristotle’s disciple Socrates, Plato, and Cicero also thought in various ways about the interrelationship between a just state and society and the freedom of the individual.
The Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism in the eighteenth century ushered in enormous changes in people’s political, economic, sociological, and philosophical thought. The Scottish Renaissance was not only confined to Scotland but also spread throughout Europe. Civil society pioneers become the carriers of an intellectual, rational, and welfare-oriented socio-political movement of the citizens.
Expressing the excellence of the human race through the activities of civil society and building strong bonds of friendship and harmony among people became the ideal of civil society. The famous economists Adam Smith and David Hume considered the social activities of civil society apart from the economic activities of the people. The famous German philosopher Hegel reinforced this idea of civil society in the 19th century.
According to him, civil society is the catalyst of the market system between the state and the family. He considered civil society as representative of the interests of various social classes, classes, groups, and professional organizations in a given country in the context of capitalist development and expansion of the market system. Karl Marx took Hegel’s thought a step further.
For him, civil society is not a class-neutral force in the dialectical process of social development. In representing the conflicting interests of a class-divided society, the role of civil society also inevitably changes.
According to him, the civil society under the leadership of the proletariat will free the state from the slavery of capital and advance towards building a society-oriented towards public welfare. Fascist Italian Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci said that civil society can spontaneously and voluntarily come together to defend its rights even in the face of capitalist brutality.
More recently, the increased role of civil society has been referred to as ‘social capital’. This social capital, closely linked to civic power, can become a powerful political catalyst. Civil society can become an important influencer in every political movement.
Antonio Gramsci sought to see civil society as an organizing force in the defense of the interests of working people and the democratic transformation of the state. In colonial countries, where the development of political parties was low, civil society played a leading role in establishing the rights of the people.
In our country too, the language movement was a spontaneous expression of the political-cultural protest activities of the civil society in terms of character. Civil society has played a leading role in the independence movement of Bangladesh, the struggle to establish Bengali ethnic identity, and the establishment of democracy and human rights during the post-independence period.
Because of this, the civil society has to be subjected to political oppression. Some sociologists consider civil society as the most organized political force in a society, that is, according to them, the most organized form of civil society is political parties. But the political parties do not think so.
According to Edward Said, a prominent Middle East scholar, civil society in Third World countries is often politically fragmented. As a result, the independent role of society is undermined.
As is happening in our country. Sometimes civil society or the widely spoken ‘civil society’ of our country is thought of as an opponent among political parties and leaders. In this, the controversial role of some civil society organizations is responsible, and the intolerance of political parties is also responsible.
Characteristics of Civil Society
Although civil society was imported from the developed countries of the West, it has now spread widely in underdeveloped and developing countries. Civil society is recognized as an important part of Western culture and society in the developed world of the West. Although civil society is not universally defined, some of its characteristics are noteworthy. These features will help in understanding the concept of civil society. The salient features of civil society are:
-
Society conscience:
Civil society is an important group of society. They play a role as the watchdog of the society and the conscience of the society.
-
Society’s opinion echoes:
Civil society is the enlightened part of society. Although not representing society, members of civil society echo the views of society. Society values the opinions of members of civil society as wise, honest, and competent. As a result, it can spread a positive influence on civil society.
-
Existence of civil society in terms of time:
There is no universal answer to the question of who constitutes a member of civil society. However, there are some known members of civil society, along with many unknown members who help to establish and develop the existence of civil society. The existence of civil society is strongly felt during the transition of the nation. The existence of civil society becomes evident due to the needs of the society.
-
Socially Conscious Minorities:
Civil society is not a political organization or political leadership. Civil society is the enlightened and conscientious socially conscious small population mixed in the society. Although small in numbers, civil society exerts an effective influence in uniting and consolidating larger social forces.
-
Portrait of Social Cohesion:
In civil society, collective identity is more salient than individual identity. The closeness of civil society to the larger population is very high. Because civil society echoes the heart and acts as the conscience of society. Civil society is the epitome of social cohesion.
-
Engaged in collective interest:
Members of civil society are generally selfless, conscientious, honest, courageous, patriotic, and responsible. Their expectations are collective aspirations rather than individual aspirations. Civil society gives overall importance to collective i.e. social interests rather than individual or small-party interests.
-
Politically Conscious:
Civil society is politically conscious because they are socially conscious. However, the members of civil society can’t be bound by the narrowness of party politics. Like political parties, civil society party leadership, party workforce, and power greed do not have clear goals and aspirations.
Because civil society is not a political or social organization. Civil society arose without the formality of any organizational structure, driven by the needs of society, and the pull of conscience.
However, civil society can play the role of a supporting force of politics in the larger interest of society in many cases. As in the French Revolution, the writer’s pen became a weapon. It should be noted that only civil society and politicians can act as fellow soldiers at the moment of special need for the country and the nation.
Civil society stays at a safe distance from day-to-day political activities. Sometimes the character of civil society is seen in politicians. Politicians can have the easy behavior of civil society.
At the end of the discussion, it can be said that one of the characteristics of civil society is that the role of civil society in the democratization process of the nation-state is not limited to the election of representatives.
Rather, in the public interest, civil society places itself firmly and effectively in a position between state power and the unrestrained power of the free market economy.
Role of Civil Society in the Development of Social Consciousness and Awareness:
Social development and increasing social awareness are one of the goals of civil society. It is impossible to achieve the goals of civil society without social development and awareness raising. For this reason, the activity of civil society in social development and awareness-raising is noteworthy. The role of civil society in social development and awareness raising is mentioned below:
-
Social movement:
To increase social awareness, civil society builds social movements in society. In this way, it is possible to solve various socio-social problems, social development, and prevention of injustice.
-
Spread education:
Education is the backbone of the nation. Civil society has a role to play in building a well-educated nation. Civil society plays a leading role in building a well-educated nation by providing and implementing various programs to promote quality education.
-
Social reformation:
Members of civil society are very vigilant about various socio-economic issues. To solve these problems, they accelerated the process of social reform.
-
Solve social problem :
Members of civil society are usually influential in society. They are aware of the real situation and various problems of the society. So they solve these problems and Encourage public and private institutions. As a result, civil society is playing an important role in social development by eliminating social problems such as dowry, drug addiction, prostitution, corruption, begging, etc.
-
Role as people’s force:
During various national disasters, civil society members work in tandem with the public to try to raise awareness on various issues. He even raised public awareness to prevent misrule and formed a mass movement in Durbar.
-
Formation of social capital:
In addition to financial capital, social capital plays an important role in building a healthy society. This social capital strengthens the foundation of the society and contributes significantly to the overall welfare of the society. And there is no alternative to increase social awareness in the formation of social capital.
-
Government and non-government development programs:
Civil society is affected by civil society. Therefore, their participation in the implementation of various government and private development programs plays an important role in creating social awareness.
-
Form voluntary citizen organization:
The state can’t meet all the needs of the people alone. Spontaneous initiative is required from the people. To take this initiative, the members of the civil society formed voluntary organizations with the general public, created public awareness by providing and implementing various programs, and succeeded in solving multifaceted problems.
-
Create awareness about social tradition and culture:
Every man runs towards his origin. Every citizen should be aware of his social traditions and culture. Civil society plays a role in creating social awareness of social traditions and cultural practices of citizens
-
Create awareness about fundamental human rights:
In many cases, the general public is deprived of basic human rights such as food, clothing, shelter, the right to express opinion, etc. It is the civil society that is expected to warn the state about this right of the people and to make the people speak up for their rights.
In the context of the above discussion, it can be said that civil society plays an important role in the proper and overall welfare of the people. Civil society plays a positive role in social awareness and social development of the country. Proper social development of a country is not possible without the role of civil society. However, in many cases, political factions and privileged or disadvantaged groups disrupt the activities of civil society and serve their nefarious interests. It is possible to develop any society through civil society only through patriotism and concentration toward the realization of people’s rights.