As a historian of philanthropy and civil society, I’ve sometimes joked that I am professionally obligated to invoke Alexis de Tocqueville in every official utterance to underscore the importance of civil society. (See? Obligation fulfilled.) Tocqueville was the French nobleman who toured the United States in the early 1830s and published a famous account of his travels. In doing so, he not only showed himself to be one of the keenest observers of the new nation, but also became the patron saint of our rich civil society through his observations of Americans’ penchant for forming associations. 

Citing Tocqueville has become a shorthand for celebrating civil society — a way to signify a shared appreciation for its centrality to our history and national identity. But in doing so, we can sometimes sidestep the need to spell out exactly what we mean by that term: why we value civil society, how we should promote and sustain it, and how it is related to other important values and institutions. 

I’m not immune to that temptation myself (especially when there’s a word count looming). I’ve spent my career examining the history of public attitudes toward philanthropy and civil society — first as an independent scholar and now as a senior research associate with the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, an IS Member. Through this work, I understand the complexity of these terms — and how valuable it can be to unpack them. And as someone who has researched and written about the challenges involved in nonprofit sector-wide advocacy, I appreciate that offhand references to Tocqueville only take you so far in a Senate office. 

I also believe that Tocqueville matters more than ever. At this moment, understanding — and communicating — the importance of civil society to our common life seems especially vital. That’s why I’m excited to work with Independent Sector as a Visiting Scholar — through writing, research, and conversation — to explore this issue. The promotion of civil society has been core to IS’s purpose from its founding. Its first president, Brian O’Connell, wrote a book whose title says it all: Civil Society: The Underpinnings of American Democracy. This work isn’t easy, as I’ll explain below. But if there’s a place to ground this essential mission in the U.S., it’s IS. 

Read the full article about the importance of civil society by Benjamin Soskis at Independent Sector.