The natural habitat of Civil Society is in culture. Markets have economic power, States use political power, and Civil Society mobilizes cultural power. People move to action on the basis of their beliefs and values. Culture constructs and reproduces our deep-seated beliefs and convictions about justice, transparency, rights, gender, equity, empowerment, freedom, peace, democracy, environment and other elements of worldviews and values. Culture shapes our identity, giving meaning, direction and coherence to our actions and goals.
Civil society mobilizes cultural power against the State by either giving or withholding legitimacy.
When it criticizes a government as corrupt, it deconstructs the cognitive and moral pretensions of a corrupt State. Civil society can also mobilize cultural power against the Market by influencing, among others, the demand for specific products through boycotts . The Other Task of Civil Society As a cultural force, civil society also has the task of visioning a new world and mobilizing its forces to realize this vision in action. To criticize a social condition is one thing. To create a new social situation is something else.