In modern society, the political sphere, the economic sphere, and the social sphere are the three most important areas of people's activities. Accordingly, social organizations can be divided into three major categories: governmental organizations, for-profit organizations, and non-profit organizations (the third sector), which are the main forms of organization in the political, economic, and social spheres, respectively. How the state of the social sphere is depends largely on the state of the third sector.
The third sector is a concept from Western societies. In different countries, the third sector has different titles, such as "independent sector", "non-profit organizations", "non-governmental organizations", " volunteer organizations", "charitable organizations", "tax-exempt organizations", "civil society organizations" and so on. Generally speaking, the third sector refers to sectoral organizations between the government and enterprises, which are neither attributed to the governmental public **** sector nor to market economy organizations. As for the definition of the third sector, researchers in various countries have different ways of defining it, depending on the focus, some based on the provisions of the law, some based on the source of funding, some emphasizing the purpose or function of the organization, some focusing on the basic structure and mode of operation of the organization, and some defining it based on the characteristics of the organization. Among them, the method of definition based on the characteristics of the organization is more inclusive and covers a wider scope, i.e., the third sector refers to those organizations whose purpose is to serve the public, which do not aim at profit-making, whose proceeds are not used for the personal gain of any individual, and which have their own legal tax-exempt status and legal status to provide tax relief to donors. From this definition, the vast majority of China's social organizations, non-profit institutions and some private non-enterprise units meet these conditions, are part of the third sector.
First, why the third sector will become a hot
Why the third sector will cause people's attention, become the current hot issues?
First of all, the development of the third sector has a favorable environment at present. since 1978, China has carried out economic and political reforms successively. The establishment of the socialist market economic system, the transformation of government functions, and the establishment of the goal of "small government, big society" have led to significant changes and adjustments in the relationship between the state and the market, and between the state and the society, and various social organizations are facing re-differentiation and repositioning. This has created a favorable economic, political and social environment for the development of China's third sector. In terms of the legal environment, in the late 1990s, China promulgated a series of laws and regulations related to the development of the third sector, such as the promulgation of the revised Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Social Organizations, the promulgation of the new Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Privately-run Non-Enterprise Units, and the Law on Donations for Public Welfare. Compared with the period before the reform and opening up, the legal environment for the development of the third sector has been greatly improved. In terms of the international environment, the impact of globalization is growing. Some things of international *** nature have gradually become globally accepted standards and have had an important impact on Chinese society. The role played by the foreign third sector in society will have an important impact on the environment for the development of the third sector in China. Especially with China's accession to the WTO, China needs to be in line with international standards in many aspects, such as China's decentralized enterprises need to develop chambers of commerce, industry associations and so on to take over some of the government's functions; and cooperation and exchanges with foreign countries also need to be carried out through this type of intermediary organizations to safeguard the overall interests of enterprises in international competition. All this provides a broad space for the development of the third sector.
Secondly, China's current development is in dire need of non-profit organizations. On the one hand, economic reform has led to a large number of diversified interests in rural and urban areas, including decentralized farmers, individual households, private enterprises and so on. They have a certain amount of free flow of resources and free space for activities, and are outside the traditional organizational system of units (such as the people's commune in the countryside and units in the city). In order to change their disadvantageous position in the market competition, these diversified interest subjects need to join together to establish their own organizations, such as scattered farmers need to purchase production materials, joint processing, joint storage and transportation, joint sales through professional associations, and negotiate with the outside world on behalf of the farmers in order to protect their interests. On the other hand, the reform of governmental institutions and the transformation of governmental functions, the separation of governmental enterprises, governmental affairs and governmental societies require new departments to take over the responsibilities and functions that used to be contracted by the government to the whole society and that should have been undertaken by the society, and to provide a variety of social services. As a government, it needs a new way, an intermediary organization, to communicate between the government and decentralized individuals, to reduce the cost of social management by the government, and to improve the efficiency of government work. At the same time, with the transformation of China's society, many new social problems have arisen along with rapid economic development, such as: poverty, unemployment, environmental problems, mobile population problems, trafficking in women and children, the elderly, drug addiction, AIDS and so on. Under the conditions of a market economy, it is difficult, unrealistic and impossible to rely solely on the Government or on the market to solve these problems. This calls for other organizations to do part of the work to make up for their inadequacies. And the third sector can give full play to its own irreplaceable role in these aspects.
Again, the government's attention and support. With the deepening of reform and opening up, the government has gradually realized the role of the third sector in social development. The Fifteenth National Congress of the Party "Report" put forward, "trade unions, **** Youth League, Women's Federation and other mass organizations to play a role in the management of state and social affairs of democratic participation and democratic supervision, to become the party's contact with the broad masses of the people's bridges and ties," to "cultivate and develop social intermediary organizations ". In order to support the development of the third sector, legislatively, the State has strengthened its management and regulated its operation legislatively by enacting a series of statutes and regulations; economically, it has increased its investment in non-profit organizations; and, policy-wise, it has encouraged the public to invest in the third sector by means of tax incentives, preferential treatment for investment in construction and other measures. All these have greatly promoted the development of the third sector and made the third sector a hot issue of social concern.
The third sector, together with the government and enterprises, **** together constitute the modern society. With its unique identity, the third sector plays a role that the government and enterprises can hardly play. Its development will have a far-reaching impact on all aspects of our society and is of great practical significance. In promoting the reform of the political system, the reform of government institutions and the transformation of government functions, and the construction of socialist democratic politics; in advocating a new type of ethics and morality, guiding the public to serve the society, and promoting the development of social undertakings; and in solving social problems, maintaining social stability, promoting the healthy and perfect development of the socialist market economy, and realizing social justice and social fairness, the third sector will play a significant role. The third sector will play its significant role. It can be said that the absence of the third sector means that society is missing a kind of glue and a growth point. Therefore, in order to carry out further political and economic reforms in our country and to achieve comprehensive social development, the healthy development of the third sector must be the premise and foundation.
Second, the third sector and its research in foreign countries
Since the 1970s, the third sector in developed and developing countries has gained vigorous development, and after entering the 1990s, the third sector in countries in transition has also continued to develop. It has been said that there has been a global "revolution of association" over the past 20 years, the main symbol of which is the emergence of a large number of non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations in countries around the world. For example, in France in the 1960s, there were 11,000 civil society organizations each year, and in the mid-1980s, the annual establishment of new civil society organizations reached more than 50,000; in the original third sector is not very developed in Asia, such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan and other countries and regions, in the past decade or so, the number of third-sector are in the sharp increase; in developing countries, such as Hungary, Poland, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt and other countries are all in the degree of the third sector. In developing countries, such as Hungary, Poland, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt and other countries are varying degrees of emergence of a large number of independent and strong civil society.
The United States is the most developed third sector in the world, like Harvard University, Yale University, the Ford Foundation, the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and so on, are all part of the third sector. The third sector can be said to be omnipresent in the United States, and many aspects of people's daily social life have to be linked with the third sector. For example, the manufacturers of the breakfast products that people eat must follow the guidelines published by the American Heart Association, the American Diabetes Association, or other national health groups; the realtors that people look to when buying a house must abide by the ethics established by the National Association of Realtors; the exams that people take to go to college, graduate school, and business school--the SAT, the GRE, and the GPA--are all part of the third sector. -SAT, GRE, GMAT, and so on, are all administered by a nonprofit testing company, ETS, the largest testing company in the world; and it's not uncommon to receive promotional items from churches or some other nonprofit organization in your daily mailbox. More than half of all U.S. service organizations are private nonprofits; about half of all universities are private nonprofits; 2/3 of all social legal services are private nonprofits; and almost all symphony orchestras and 70% of all museums and art galleries are private nonprofits.
The third sector in the United States, both in its absolute and its relative numbers, exceeds that of any other country. According to statistics, in 1998, the United States about **** there are 1.2 million large and small, all kinds of organizations belonging to the third sector; for the third sector of the work of the personnel and volunteers, accounting for 1/10 of the U.S. population; the third sector **** created 4.6% of the national income, if added to the volunteer work hours, this proportion will reach 6.7%. This shows the huge number of third sectors in the United States. The third sector in the United States, depending on the object of service, can be divided into two categories: membership organizations that provide services to their members (including owners and professional organizations, social fellowship organizations, mutual aid and cooperative organizations, etc.) and public interest organizations that provide services to the community at large (including capital intermediary organizations, churches and service delivery organizations, social welfare organizations, etc.).
Britain's third sector plays a pivotal role in the entire national economy, with its expenditure accounting for 4.8% of GDP, and its relative size second only to the United States, ranking second in the world. According to 1997 statistics, nearly 1 million people were employed in the third sector in the UK, accounting for 4% of the total employed population. In addition, about half or more of them are regularly engaged in voluntary activities. The three main areas of third sector activity in the UK are in education, culture and recreation and social services.
In short, the third sector has developed considerably in many countries around the world. It should be noted, however, that the third sector in individual countries is different in many respects. In terms of scale, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and other countries of the third sector is relatively large, Japan, Italy and developing countries are generally smaller; structure, in the third sector accounted for the largest proportion of the United States, Germany for the medical institutions, Britain, Japan for the educational institutions, France, Italy is a social service organizations, the third world countries are mainly focused on the promotion of community development and other aspects. In terms of sources of income, the United States is based on membership fees, service charges and operating income, France and Germany are based on government grants, and some developing countries are based on donations from abroad.
Overseas research on the third sector, the beginning of the social sciences and public **** management perspective. 1980s and 1990s, scholars in some countries began to carry out cross-national research, to explore why there is a third sector, the definition of the concept of the third sector, as well as the legal provisions of the different social systems, the study of the third sector of the relationship between the government of each country, the third sector of the predicted development trend of each country. countries, predicting the development trend of the third sector in each country, etc. Several representative theories explaining the third sector have been formed. For example, the market failure/government failure theory explains why some public **** goods have to be provided by non-profit organizations (this theory holds that the third sector is a private institution that provides public **** goods. Being a public **** good cannot be provided through the market system due to the free rider problem. In this case, the provision of public ****goods should be undertaken by the government, but the government cannot fully satisfy everyone's needs, and in the case of government failure, third sector organizations come into existence to pick up the slack to meet people's special needs. In short, the relationship between the market, the government and the third sector is complementary); and the theory of contract failure explains why some private goods are provided by non-profit organizations (this theory holds that since the third sector is not for profit, it is much less likely that they will take advantage of consumers by taking advantage of asymmetric information. Consumers, from their own point of view, of course, tend to look for more trustworthy organizations to provide certain services); the supply theory explains why people are willing to spend time, energy and money on non-profit activities; and the theory of voluntary failure explains the inherent limitations of the third sector.
At present, from the point of view of foreign countries, the third sector has been developed to a considerable scale. The problems and development trends faced in the future will be: how to strive to increase visibility, improve public trust, clarify the legal status, close cooperation with the government, the implementation of specialized development strategies and so on.
Third, China's third sector
In China, from the beginning of the 20th century, some of the third sector with modern characteristics of the gradual emergence of organizations, such as the establishment of chambers of commerce around the world one after another, but the development of the third sector is the development of twists and turns difficult. For example, in 1927, civil society suffered from the slow development of rectification; 30 years after 1949, due to China's political, economic and organizational system to form a highly unified system, the government and enterprises and institutions to generalize the function, replacing the function that should actually be played by the third sector, the development of the third sector in the strict sense is in a state of atrophy, until after the reform and opening up in 1978, the third sector to get the It was not until after the reform and opening-up in 1978 that the third sector was truly developed. According to statistics based on the results of the March 1998 national census of basic units, there are 44,000 legal entities of social organizations in China, absorbing 710,000 people; there are 610,000 other non-profit institutions, absorbing 26.52 million people. As of October 1998, there were 200,000 social organizations*** of all kinds registered with the civil affairs departments at all levels, and about 700,000 private non-enterprise units approved by various departments. By the end of 2000, in accordance with the guidelines and policies of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on clean-up and reorganization, the number of social organizations had been reduced to 136,000, with the number decreasing, the quality improving markedly, and the structure becoming increasingly rational and standardized. They continue to attract attention, and are increasingly playing a large role in promoting the progress of social civilization. The China Youth and Children's Foundation and the China General Charity Federation are prominent among them, and their work in rescuing out-of-school children and assisting disaster-affected people is evident to all. But the role of the third sector is far more than just relief; it plays an invaluable role in various fields such as culture and education, recreational services, health care, research and studies, various kinds of counseling, trade associations, community development, social services, and environmental protection, animal protection, and so on.
Due to the different internal and external environments and historical conditions, China's third sector has some characteristics of its own. In the field of activities, China's third sector activities are not limited to one area, often into a diversified pattern, the mode of activity to information, propaganda, education; in the legal status, China's third sector, the vast majority of organizations have a charter, but a large number of organizations have not been registered in the civil affairs department, or registered in the industrial and commercial sector, which has led to a lot of problems. At the same time, the lack of power of appointment and dismissal of personnel is a common problem in China's third sector; in terms of equipment and human resources, nearly half of China's third sector organizations rely on the departments in charge of their business to provide office space, and their office conditions are generally poor, with fewer full-time and part-time staff, and even fewer volunteers; in terms of finances, China's third sector has a single source of income, which is mainly from the government, and the structure of its expenditures is not reasonable, and its financial system is not perfect; in terms of its relations with the outside world, it has a single income, which mainly comes from the government, and the expenditure structure is not rational, and the financial system is also not perfect. In terms of relations with the outside world, China's third sector has very close ties with the administration and institutions, but very few exchanges with the international community. These are related to the fact that the third sector in China has a strong semi-government and semi-private nature. In short, the third sector in China, although there has been a great development, but this development is still in the primary stage, and its role is still to be further developed.
At present, China's third sector is facing many problems, one is the lack of funds and resources; the second is the lack of talent; the third is the lack of a sound legal system; the fourth is not fully competitive; the fifth is the backwardness of the management, the quality of service is poor; and so on. All this is related to the lack of a clear purpose and mission of China's third sector, the lack of credibility, the lack of competition mechanism, the lack of supervision by social forces, and greater interference by administrative factors. Therefore, to promote the healthy development of China's third sector, it is necessary to advocate the concept of public welfare, optimize the social environment, improve laws and regulations, improve the supervision mechanism, reform the management system, establish an assessment system for the third sector, improve the third sector's responsibility and credibility, and promote the third sector and its work towards legalization, institutionalization and standardization.
China's research on the third sector emerged in the 80s, when it was mainly focused on research from the perspective of organizational theory and administrative theory. After entering the 90s, the third sector research has become a hot issue in the domestic academic and theoretical circles, cutting-edge issues. At present, China's research on the third sector is mainly manifested in the following aspects: firstly, it is to study the development history, concept definition, legal provisions and management mode of the third sector in foreign developed and developing countries from a macro point of view, and to introduce the experience of the third sector in foreign countries; secondly, it is to carry out a comprehensive comparative research and analysis on the third sector in some countries, so as to provide reference for the development of the third sector in China; thirdly, it is to study the characteristics, roles, and the role of the third sector in the socio-economic environment in China. The third is to study the characteristics, role and significance of China's third sector in social and economic development; the fourth is to study the operation and management of some specific organizations of China's third sector from a micro point of view, and to summarize their experience. However, there are still many obvious shortcomings in China's research on the third sector: at the theoretical level, a scientific and complete theoretical system has not yet been formed, and many aspects, such as the definition of the scope, the unification of the research methodology, and the division of the research content, etc., have yet to be standardized; at the practical level, it still only stays at the application level, and it is still difficult to study the substantive things, such as the balance between government-oriented and market-oriented third sector management, fund-raising and management of the third sector, and the development of the third sector. research, research on the third sector's fund-raising and supply system, and the relationship between the public *** sector and the third sector have basically not been systematically studied. All these should be the focus of future research on the third sector. (Responsible editor of this article Liang Liping)
Chinese Party and Government Cadre Forum, No. 10, 2002