Civil society theory, enlightenment and critique

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Abstract
This essay examines the current state of civil society theory and its debt to Enlightenment concepts of civil society. The central argument is that contemporary civil society theory loses touch both with the critical aspect of enlightenment thought itself and with the critique of enlightenment thought that we find most developed in Hegel and Marx. After charting the development of the Enlightenment perspectives on civil society, and the critique that Hegel and Marx make of civil society, two related points are made: first, that it is one‐sided and menacing to grant primacy to civil society, just as it is to grant primacy to the state or to the market; second, that further research in the area should develop a ‘third way’: one that recognizes the validity of the concept of civil society without romanticizing it, without idealizing it, and without abstracting it from its social and historical ground. In conclusion, it is argued that the identification of civil society with ethical life not only avoids confrontation with the uncivil nature of civil society, but opens the gates to the hunt for scapegoats and other villains deemed responsible for its ‘deformations’.

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