Variations on a theme: exploring understandings of the marketisation concept in civil society research

ABSTRACT

It is, today, widely accepted that market structures, logics, identities and activities are spreading throughout society, including civil society and its organisations. Scholars increasingly use the marketisation concept to describe these tendencies. This paper reviews the meaning attached to this concept, when used in the context of civil society. A sample of 210 peer-reviewed articles in civil society studies published between 1993 and 2017 is explored in an analysis that suggests that marketisation is being used with much variation in the literature. The analysis also shows that apart from more generic descriptions of persistent attempts to privatise and commodify various goods and services, few articles seem to involve more detailed definitions or profound conceptual arguments. Taken together, this indicates a development where the concept of marketisation runs the risk of losing its analytical powers. To avoid this, the paper proposes a stricter and more transparent use of the term ‘marketisation’ and suggests ways to further develop this concept in research.

KEYWORDS:

• Marketisation
• non-profit
• civil society
• concept analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Anna Mankell is a PhD student in the field of Social Welfare and Civil Society. Her background is in political science with a particular interest in the relationship between state and civil society in healthcare. Anna Mankell’s dissertation project concerns the democratic function of patient organisations in healthcare, in the light of major change processes such as individualisation and marketisation.

Johan Hvenmark is Associate Professor in Business Administration. His overall research interest is in organisational change and strategic leadership in civil society. Currently he is involved in studies concerning civil society–market–state intersections; changing forms of civic engagement; social innovations in civil society; governance and membership organisations; non-profit management education; and issues of gender and other power relations in civil society organisations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).