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Definitions
Sociological study of NPOs refers to scientific research on NPOs, in all its ramifications, with some particular sociobehavioral science perspective, such as sociology or political science, or an interdisciplinary or social profession perspective, such as management or public administration. See also NPO definitions entry.
Introduction
The sociological study of NPOs is a historically recent phenomenon, as is to be expected, since sociology is a social science that originated only in the nineteenth century. By contrast, history as a scholarly enterprise and discipline has roots that go back millennia. Historians have been interested marginally in NPOs, especially associations, for probably 4500–5000 years, or since the origins of writing. In the fledgling discipline of sociology, various of the discipline’s founders wrote about NPOs as specific types, without using this technical term. For instance, Max Weber, one of the founders,...
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References
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Smith, D.H. (2017). Sociological Study of Nonprofit Organizations. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2044-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2044-1
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