Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Towards a Neoliberal Third Sector? International Lessons from Recent Developments in China

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Modernizing Democracy

Abstract

This article, drawing on exploratory data from a recent consultancy project, illuminates development in the Chinese third sector through the lens of what is currently underway in more advanced Western societies. Scrutinizing the set-up of the sector with respect to social service-providing nonprofits, it argues that worldwide trends towards a neoliberal approach take centre stage here. The result is selective social performance and poor associational underpinnings. However, the analysis also hints at ambiguities in the overall evolution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aiken, M., & Bode, I. (2009). Killing the golden goose? Third sector organisations and back-to-work programmes in Germany and the UK. Social Policy and Administration, 43(3), 209–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anheier, H.K. (2013). The Nonprofits of 2025. Stanford Social Innovation Review (Spring), 18–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bode, I. (2010). Thinking Beyond Borderline A German Gaze on a Changing Interface between Society and the Voluntary Sector. Voluntary Sector Review, 1(2), 139–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bode, I. (2011). Creeping marketization and post-corporatist governance: The transformation of state-non-profit relations in continental Europe. In S. D. Phillips & S. R. Smith (Eds.), Governance and regulation in the third sector (pp. 115–141). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bode, I. (2013). In futile search of excellence. The “muddling through agenda” of service-providing “social enterprises” in contemporary Europe. In S. Denny & F. Seddon (Eds.), Social enterprise: accountability and evaluation around the world (pp. 196–212). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boychuk, T. (2007). Big society, small government. Macalester International, 18(1), 201–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dean, M. (2010). Governmentality. Power and rule in modern society (2nd ed.). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evers, A., & Zimmer, A. (Eds.). (2010). Third sector organizations facing turbulent environments. Sports, culture and social services in five European countries. Baden-Baden: Nomos.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, M., Jing, L., & Fan, L. (2012). Barriers to the supply of non-government disability services in China. Journal of Social Policy, 41(1), 161–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garrow, E., & Hasenfeld, Y. (2012). Managing conflicting institutional logics: Social service versus market. In B. Gidron & Y. Hasenfeld (Eds.), Social enterprises. An organizational perspective (pp. 121–143). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hackenberg, H., & Empter, S. (Eds.). (2011). Social entrepreneurship—social business: Für die Gesellschaft unternehmen. Wiesbaden: VS.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Heberer, T., & Sausmikat, N. (2005). China und die Zivilgesellschaft. In J. Betz & W. Hein (Eds.), Zivilgesellschaft (pp. 208–239). Wiesbaden: VS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendriksen, L. S., Smith, S. R., & Zimmer, A. (2012). At the eve of convergence? Transformations of social service provision in Denmark, Germany and the United States. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 23(2), 458–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horsfall, D., & Chai, S. (2013). Square pegs and round holes: Extending existing typologies fails to capture the complexities of Chinese social policies. In G. Ramia, K. Farnsworth, & Z. Irving (Eds.), Social policy review 25 (pp. 129–148). Bristol: Policy Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kerlin, J. A. (2013). Defining social enterprise across different countries: A conceptual framework based on institutional factors. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 42(1), 84–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, N. (2010). Capitalism in China: A centrally managed capitalism and its future. Management and Organization Review, 7(1), 63–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu, Y. Y. (2008). Non-governmental organisations in China: The rise of dependent autonomy. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, T. H. (1992). Citizenship and social class. London: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milbourne, L., & Cushman, M. (2013). From the third sector to the big society: How changing UK Government policies have eroded third sector trust. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 24(2), 485–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pesqué-Cela, V., Liu, Y., Ran, T., Sun, L. (2009). Challenging, complementing or assuming ‘the mandate of heaven’? Political distrust and the rise of self-governing social organizations in rural China. Journal of Comparative Economics, 37(1), 151–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pick, D., Holmes, K., & Brueckner, M. (2011). Governmentalities of volunteeering: A study of regional western Australia. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 22(3), 390–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, F. (2007). The politics of civil society. Neoliberalism or social left? Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • So, A. Y., & Chu, Y. (2012). The transition from neoliberalism to state neoliberalism in China. In C. Kjung-Sap, B. Fine & L. Weiss (Eds.), Development politics in transition. The neoliberal era and beyond (pp. 166–187). Houndsmills Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Unger, J. (2008). Associations and the Chinese state. Contested spaces. New York: Eastgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, G., Howell, J. A., & Xiaoyuan, S. (1996). In search of civil society: Market reform and social change in contemporary China. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, K., & Jun, T. (2006). Non state care homes for older people as third sector organisations in China’s transitional welfare economy. Journal of Social Policy, 35(2), 229–246.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, Z., Guo, C., & Dongjin, C. (2011). Governing Chinese nonprofit organizations: The promise and limits of the ‘Third Way’. International Review of Public Administration, 16(1), 11–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmer, A. (2010). Third sector-government partnerships. In R. Taylor (Ed.), Third sector research (pp. 201–218). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

    Ingo Bode

Authors
  1. Ingo Bode
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ingo Bode .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Münster, Münster, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Matthias Freise

  2. Department of Political Science, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Thorsten Hallmann

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bode, I. (2014). Towards a Neoliberal Third Sector? International Lessons from Recent Developments in China. In: Freise, M., Hallmann, T. (eds) Modernizing Democracy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0485-3_22

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation