Il ruolo del settore non profit nel rafforzamento della coesione sociale: tendenze e scenari

The Role of Non-Profit Sector in Enhancing Social Cohesion: Trends and Scenarios - Nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector more generally, are part of a complex dual transition from industrial to post-industrial society, and from national state to transnational policy regimes. This transition shows the beginnings of a new policy dialogue in addressing the future role of non-profit organizations, and involves three broad perspectives that have become prominent in recent years. First, nonprofits are increasingly part of new public management and a mixed economy of welfare; second, they are seen as central to civil society-social capital approaches, specifically the Neo-Tocquevillian emphasis on the nexus between social capital/social cohesion and participation in voluntary associations; and third, they are part of a wider social accountability perspective that sees them as instruments of greater transparency, heightened accountability and improved governance of public institutions. All three approaches make strong and specific claims about the role of nonprofits, NGOs and nonprofit sector institutions generally; they occupy key positions in current policy debates; have major implications for the future of nonprofits, and could amount, in the end, to a highly contradictory set of expectations that push and pull these institutions in very different directions. This paper suggests various scenarios and briefly explores their implications. Keywords: non-profit; social cohesion; voluntary associations; new public management; welfare economy.

Helmut K. Anheier, Il ruolo del settore non profit nel rafforzamento della coesione sociale: tendenze e scenari in "SOCIOLOGIA E POLITICHE SOCIALI" 2/2008, pp 111-125, DOI: