"Growing Civil Society explores the role of voluntary action and nonprofit organization in contemporary America. Key to the book is the concept of "third space," which provides an important tool for the construction of civil society.

The third space is not independent from society's major institutions, but exists in dynamic interdependence with them, linking individuals in their home bases of family and community to the larger governmental and economic structures within which all citizens, workers, and consumers learn to seek their way in modern society."--BOOK JACKET.