The third sector: a subject of study for economic sociology.

This analysis shows that, already in the 19th century, the utopia of the se lf-regulating market had spawned a political debate about the economy to wh ich many collective initiatives from the civil society, partially relayed b y the Welfare State but still existing in a third sector contributed. The ' Civil and Solidarity Based Economy' perspective emphasizes the interactions between this third sector and evoluving public policies. The globalization of the economy, the 'tertiarization' of productive activities and long-ter m socio-demographic trends are reviving associations in this sector. Their future is linked both to this process and to changes in forms of public reg ulation. Other forms of regulation have cropped up alongside state oversigh t, the form that prevailed till the 1970s. The respective weights of these forms vary depending on both the type of welfare state and the configuratio n both of networks of initiatives and of types of international exchanges. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.