Civil Society between Self-Interest and Commitment to Solidarity and Common Good

Civil society actors, in particular voluntary organisations, associations and social movements, have different objectives in both private and public spheres. In this paper we focus on those civil society actors whose activities have an impact in the public sphere. In addition to civil society that intervenes in the narrower political arena and social and charitable aid, we are interested in civil society actors in the fields of education, youth work, art, and ecology. We are interested in what are the typical characteristics of civil actors in the public sphere acting to promote their own particular interests and which of those working towards the common good of society and real solidarity.

The theoretical part consists of two complementary contributions. On the one hand, we consider different approaches to civil society, including the (democratic) pluralist approach and the Gramsci's hegemonic approach. Action for the common good is conceived in relation to Pitirim Sorokin's approach to research on altruistic and creative love and the reflection on Pope Francis' proposal of social friendship and political love.

The research part of the paper includes an analysis of international quantitative survey data, a review of the literature on civic action and our own qualitative research on civil society in Slovenia (in-depth interviews with civil society actors, experts and politicians).