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Part of the welfare mix: The third sector as an intermediate area

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Abstract

This article presents a conceptional framework which analyses the third sector as a part of a mixed welfare system, otherwise made up of the market, the state and the informal private household spheres. From this perspective, the third sector appears as a dimension of the public space in civil societies: an intermediate area rather than a clear-cut sector. Third sector organisations are understood as polyvalent organisations whose social and political roles can be as important as their economic ones; they are portrayed as hybrids, intermeshing resources and rationales from different sectors. In present policies of ‘welfare pluralism’ the emphasis is consequently more on ‘synergetic’ mixes of resources and rationales than on mere issues of substitution processes between different sectors of provision. The last section discusses the potential distinguishing features of such policies with respect to ‘pluralist’ approaches which try to safeguard the conventional hierarchies in a mixed economy of welfare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Wirtschaftslehre des Haushalts und Verbrauchsforschung, Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, 35390, Giessen, Germany

    Adalbert Evers

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  1. Adalbert Evers
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This paper draws in part on the author's introduction to Evers and Svetlik (1993).

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Evers, A. Part of the welfare mix: The third sector as an intermediate area. Voluntas 6, 159–182 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02353995

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