Open AccessReframing “Social Origins” Theory: The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
Author(s) -
Antonin Wagner
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
nonprofit and voluntary sector quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.098
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1552-7395
pISSN - 0899-7640
DOI - 10.1177/0899764000294004
Subject(s) - cognitive reframing , public sphere , context (archaeology) , public sector , sociology , conceptual framework , government (linguistics) , politics , institutional analysis , positive economics , political science , public administration , social science , economics , social psychology , psychology , law , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , biology
A recent article by Salamon and Anheier proposes a new theoretical approach to explaining patterns of nonprofit development cross-nationally—the social origins approach. Although it focuses on a broader societal and political context, the analysis still seems to rest on the prevailing government-failure approach and a two-sector view of society. Institutional analysis suggests nonprofit organizations should be viewed not as forming an institutional sector but as part of a complex network of organizations linked together in the publics phere. Following an institutional perspective, this contribution develops an alternative conceptual framework for analyzing the structural transformation of the public sphere and the changing role played by nonprofit organizations in this process. It will be shown that—at least with respect to Western Europe—this conceptual framework gives a more accurate picture of the historical development of welfare regimes and the interdependence of organizations in society than the social origins approach.