SOCIOLOGY OF WORK AND EMPLOYMENT: TOPIC 6
TOPIC 6: Society organization, Political society; state and society relations, the principle
of subsidiary.
Civil society refers to the sphere of social interaction that comprises the intimate sphere
(family), association life, social movements, and forms of public communication operating in
the arena of the organized non-state, non-market sector with origins in both the modern and
traditional bases of society (Cohen and Arato, 1990).
Politics is essentially the struggle for the control of power relations whether institutionalized or
not.
State-society relations are defined as ‘interactions between state institutions and societal
groups to negotiate how public authority is exercised and how it can be influenced by people.
They are focused on issues such as defining the mutual rights and obligations of state and
society, negotiating how public resources should be allocated and establishing different modes
of representation and accountability.
Citizenship
The state derives its legitimacy through its interaction with citizens and an organized and active
civil society. The Citizenship Development Research Centre views a citizen as ‘someone with
rights, aspirations and responsibilities to others in the community and to the state. This implies a
relationship among citizens, and between the state and all those living within its borders’
(Benequista, 2010, p. 4). Citizenship confers various benefits, including the right to enjoy a
nationality; to vote, hold office and participate in political processes; to access education, health
and other goods; to access the labour market beyond the informal sector; to own businesses, land
and other forms of property; and to security of residence and freedom of movement. The nature
of the political settlement can greatly impact upon state-society relations. In many fragile and
conflict affected states, relations are based on patronage and lack of accountability.
State and Society Relations
The prominence of informal institutions and relationships and unofficial processes result in
divergences between formal systems and rules and actual practice. Political elites, who benefit
from patronage and income from natural resource rents and criminal activities, often have little
incentive to engage with citizens and to build effective public authority. The concentration of
power in a few elites also limits the participation of citizens from public life. In some situations,
citizens may be excluded from public life through state repression and violence. This results in a
legacy of negative and weak state-society relations. Efforts to promote an inclusive political
participation can re-shape relations and contribute to political and social transformation.
Much of the focus in state building has been on building the capacity of central state institutions.
Attention must also be paid to supporting civil society and citizen engagement such that they
can hold the state accountable and make it responsive to society. Where donor policy and
1
, funding has been directed at both state and civil society institutions, these interventions have
often been compartmentalized based on a traditional state-civil society divide. Strategies and
policies are needed that focus on the interaction between institutions and citizens at all stages eg.
war-to-peace transition, peace negotiations and implementation of agreements to post-conflict
peace building. The challenge is to build peace alliances that stretch horizontally and vertically
between different levels of society. Greater attention also needs to be paid to questions of power
and to altering elite incentives. External actors will find it difficult, though, to directly influence
internal political dynamics. It may thus be more effective to target international behaviour and
initiatives that affect incentives, such as management of tax evasion and corruption.
State building approaches also need to go beyond modelling the relationship between state,
elites and an segregated 'society', and ask who is represented by each group, who participates in
state-society negotiations, and whose demands are being expressed? For example, donor
approaches to state building, typically have not engaged with existing knowledge about gender
power relations and how state building processes impact women and men differently.
Difference between State and Society
(1) Society is wider in scope than State:
Society is a very broad and comprehensive organization of human beings. It is formed by all
types of relations (social, economic, cultural, political, moral, religious, and others) that emerge
and develop among the people who are members of the society. As against this, State is only a
political institution or sanitation. It is concerned primarily with the exercise of power in society.
State constitutes the sovereign power-system of the Society.
(2) Society is prior to State:
Society is rooted in human nature. As social animals people naturally enter into social
relationships and form society. The birth of society took place in the earliest period of history.
State also has a very long history behind it and yet, everyone agrees, it came after the birth of
society. The need for protecting the social relationships is the need for law and order led to the
birth of the State. State had its birth after the evolution of society into a territorial settled society
of people.
(3) State is a politically organized unity of the people, Society is a natural unity of people
bound together in social relationships:
Society includes both organized and non-organized groups of people, their activities and
relationships. It consists of the vast network of all human relationships in society. State is a
politically organized community of people living on a definite portion of territory and
characterized by the exercise of sovereignty over the people. State is the organized political
community of the people of a society.
(4) Government is the agency of the State; Society has no formal organized agent:
2
TOPIC 6: Society organization, Political society; state and society relations, the principle
of subsidiary.
Civil society refers to the sphere of social interaction that comprises the intimate sphere
(family), association life, social movements, and forms of public communication operating in
the arena of the organized non-state, non-market sector with origins in both the modern and
traditional bases of society (Cohen and Arato, 1990).
Politics is essentially the struggle for the control of power relations whether institutionalized or
not.
State-society relations are defined as ‘interactions between state institutions and societal
groups to negotiate how public authority is exercised and how it can be influenced by people.
They are focused on issues such as defining the mutual rights and obligations of state and
society, negotiating how public resources should be allocated and establishing different modes
of representation and accountability.
Citizenship
The state derives its legitimacy through its interaction with citizens and an organized and active
civil society. The Citizenship Development Research Centre views a citizen as ‘someone with
rights, aspirations and responsibilities to others in the community and to the state. This implies a
relationship among citizens, and between the state and all those living within its borders’
(Benequista, 2010, p. 4). Citizenship confers various benefits, including the right to enjoy a
nationality; to vote, hold office and participate in political processes; to access education, health
and other goods; to access the labour market beyond the informal sector; to own businesses, land
and other forms of property; and to security of residence and freedom of movement. The nature
of the political settlement can greatly impact upon state-society relations. In many fragile and
conflict affected states, relations are based on patronage and lack of accountability.
State and Society Relations
The prominence of informal institutions and relationships and unofficial processes result in
divergences between formal systems and rules and actual practice. Political elites, who benefit
from patronage and income from natural resource rents and criminal activities, often have little
incentive to engage with citizens and to build effective public authority. The concentration of
power in a few elites also limits the participation of citizens from public life. In some situations,
citizens may be excluded from public life through state repression and violence. This results in a
legacy of negative and weak state-society relations. Efforts to promote an inclusive political
participation can re-shape relations and contribute to political and social transformation.
Much of the focus in state building has been on building the capacity of central state institutions.
Attention must also be paid to supporting civil society and citizen engagement such that they
can hold the state accountable and make it responsive to society. Where donor policy and
1
, funding has been directed at both state and civil society institutions, these interventions have
often been compartmentalized based on a traditional state-civil society divide. Strategies and
policies are needed that focus on the interaction between institutions and citizens at all stages eg.
war-to-peace transition, peace negotiations and implementation of agreements to post-conflict
peace building. The challenge is to build peace alliances that stretch horizontally and vertically
between different levels of society. Greater attention also needs to be paid to questions of power
and to altering elite incentives. External actors will find it difficult, though, to directly influence
internal political dynamics. It may thus be more effective to target international behaviour and
initiatives that affect incentives, such as management of tax evasion and corruption.
State building approaches also need to go beyond modelling the relationship between state,
elites and an segregated 'society', and ask who is represented by each group, who participates in
state-society negotiations, and whose demands are being expressed? For example, donor
approaches to state building, typically have not engaged with existing knowledge about gender
power relations and how state building processes impact women and men differently.
Difference between State and Society
(1) Society is wider in scope than State:
Society is a very broad and comprehensive organization of human beings. It is formed by all
types of relations (social, economic, cultural, political, moral, religious, and others) that emerge
and develop among the people who are members of the society. As against this, State is only a
political institution or sanitation. It is concerned primarily with the exercise of power in society.
State constitutes the sovereign power-system of the Society.
(2) Society is prior to State:
Society is rooted in human nature. As social animals people naturally enter into social
relationships and form society. The birth of society took place in the earliest period of history.
State also has a very long history behind it and yet, everyone agrees, it came after the birth of
society. The need for protecting the social relationships is the need for law and order led to the
birth of the State. State had its birth after the evolution of society into a territorial settled society
of people.
(3) State is a politically organized unity of the people, Society is a natural unity of people
bound together in social relationships:
Society includes both organized and non-organized groups of people, their activities and
relationships. It consists of the vast network of all human relationships in society. State is a
politically organized community of people living on a definite portion of territory and
characterized by the exercise of sovereignty over the people. State is the organized political
community of the people of a society.
(4) Government is the agency of the State; Society has no formal organized agent:
2
