Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
10-2012
College/Unit
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department/Program/Center
Social Work
Abstract
This is one of two summation papers presented at the conclusion of the 2012 Queensland University conference on the third sector, looking to the future. The focus initially is on the concept of the social imaginary as offered by the Canadian social philosopher, Charles Taylor. Much of the previous conceptual and theoretical work in third sector studies during the past few decades has been focused on questions of the best ways to imagine the community and national social configurations of increasingly large numbers of nonprofit, voluntary and nongovernmental organizations. The concepts of nonprofit organization and nonprofit sector have been most prominent figures in this evolving social imaginary, although there are other conceptions as well, notably civil society and commons. More recently, a group of European scholars has mounted a critique of the “North American Model” of the third sector as a space of nonprofit organizations defined by the non-distribution constraint. Examination of one major expression of this critique reveals a serious, thoughtful effort that deserves greater attention than it has received to date among North American scholars.
Digital Commons Citation
Lohmann, Roger A., "Associations, Movements, Dialogues, Social Problems and News: Voluntary Action and the Life Cycles of the Third Sector" (2012). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 1693.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/1693
Source Citation
Producing the Third Sector: The Role of Social Imaginaries. Paper presented at the Workshop on Theoretical Variations in Voluntary Sector Organizing, Queens University, Kingston Ontario, October 20, 2012.
Included in
Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons, Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Affairs Commons, Social Welfare Commons, Social Work Commons, Sociology Commons