Log in
Building the Knowledge Base of Nonprofit Management:
A Searchable Database
Understanding the Third Sector: Revisiting the Prince, the Merchant,
Abstract
An attempt to provide a definitive explanation of the nonprofit,
charitable, or philanthropic third sector, defining its boundaries
& growing influence in local, national, & international
politics. A typology of third-sector organizations highlights the
difficulty in arriving at a common definition. Social science &
other disciplines have tended to describe the rationale of the third
sector as a response to catastrophes, eg, market or government
failure. It is argued here that the third sector should be viewed as
equal to other sectors of society rather than dependent on them. The
imagery of the prince (political society), the merchant (market),
& the citizen (civil) is used to represent three sectors of power
in society. In this model, the rationale for the third sector comes
from demands arising from the civil sector to provide services,
empower the underprivileged, & advocate social change. It is
noted, however, that many service or contracting agencies called
nonprofits for taxation purposes are better understood as market
organizations. 1 Exhibit, 59 References. Adapted from the source
document.
Journal
(Winter 1996)
vol7
no2
pages203-219
Categories
-
Classification and Research
-
Classification and Mapping
