Third Sector: The Building of a Research Field

Definitions are key elements of the scientific undertaking (journey) (Swedberg, 2016). Tracing a boundary of meaning in order to distinguish what is inside and what is outside a specific research field, definitions change along space and time. In the field of civil society organizations many definitions have been developed around the world, such as: (a) Independent Sector, Voluntary Sector, Nonprofit Sector (in USA); (b) Charitable Sector, Voluntary Sector (in UK); (c) Intermediary Sector (in Netherland and Germany); (d) Social Economy (in France, Belgium, Canada-Quebec). The recent tendency to gather the studies and research concerning the organized part of Civil Society under the label Third Sector seems to be more neutral and more easily recognizable worldwide. The present chapter is organized as follows. The next section deals with epistemological issues arising when dealing with the tough question of definitions in social sciences. The third section analyses the terminologies used worldwide to indicate the sub-sector of the society encompassing what we can broadly refer to as civil society organizations. In the fourth section we illustrate and comment on four main approaches to definition in our research field. Finally, in the fifth and last section we present some concluding remarks.