Reframing “Social Origins” Theory: The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere

A recent article by Salamon and Anheier proposes a new theoretical approach to explaining patterns of nonprofit development cross-nationally—the social origins approach. Although it focuses on a broader societal and political context, the analysis still seems to rest on the prevailing government-failure approach and a two-sector view of society. Institutional analysis suggests nonprofit organizations should be viewed not as forming an institutional sector but as part of a complex network of organizations linked together in the publics phere. Following an institutional perspective, this contribution develops an alternative conceptual framework for analyzing the structural transformation of the public sphere and the changing role played by nonprofit organizations in this process. It will be shown that—at least with respect to Western Europe—this conceptual framework gives a more accurate picture of the historical development of welfare regimes and the interdependence of organizations in society than the social origins approach.