The Everyday Life of Civil Society

This book explores the challenges facing third-sector groups in Italy after changes such as the professionalization and commercialization of non-profit groups and their increased role as suppliers of public services in local welfare systems, as well as partners in recent governance arrangements. These changes have sparked debates about the general role of third-sector groups and the potential decline of their role as civil society actors. The book focuses on three major changes and associated debates, exploring their everyday implications to ask the question ‘What are the consequences of shifts in action approaches, civic participation, and relations with public authorities?’ Backed by four years of ethnographic empirical data, it reveals that the meaning of these changes varies even within a single organization, depending on the observed scenes of its everyday life. By introducing five "scene styles," interaction patterns shaping exchanges between professionals, volunteers, and activists, the book analyses third-sector organizations and reveals unexpected political functions that take shape underneath that which is openly declared.