What is your understanding of civil society?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 4

The correct answer is Option (4) → It is the non-state and non-market component of the public domain.

Option (1) It is a market-oriented part of the public domain. — Incorrect. Civil society lies outside the market. Firms and traders work for profit; civil society is where people come together for common causes, not for buying and selling.

Option (2) It is an involuntary participation of people in the public domain. — Incorrect. Participation in civil society is voluntary: individuals get together of their own will to create institutions and organisations. Nobody is forced to join.

Option (3) It is the state-controlled area of public participation. — Incorrect. Civil society lies outside the domain of the state. It keeps a watch on the state, protests against its injustices or supplements its efforts, so it cannot be controlled by the state.

Option (4) It is the non-state and non-market component of the public domain. — Correct. Civil society is the broad arena beyond the private domain of the family, but outside both the state and the market. Here individuals join voluntarily to form organisations, take up social issues and make demands on the state. It is the sphere of active citizenship.

NCERT (2025-26): “6.4 State and Civil Society … Non-state actors and institutions become important in this context, for they can keep a watch on the state, protest against its injustices or supplement its efforts. Civil society is the name given to the broad arena which lies beyond the private domain of the family, but outside the domain of both state and market. Civil society is the non-state and non-market part of the public domain in which individuals get together voluntarily to create institutions and organisations. It is the sphere of active citizenship: here, individuals take up social issues, try to influence the state or make demands on it, pursue their collective interests or seek support for a variety of causes.…”