“Civil Society is a cluster of institutions and associations strong enough to prevent tyranny, but which are, none the less, entered and left freely, rather than imposed by birth or sustained by awesome ritual.”

—  Ernest Gellner

Conditions of Liberty (1994)
Context: Civil Society is a cluster of institutions and associations strong enough to prevent tyranny, but which are, none the less, entered and left freely, rather than imposed by birth or sustained by awesome ritual. You can join the Labour Party without slaughtering a sheep...

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Ernest Gellner photo
Ernest Gellner32
Czech anthropologist, philosopher and sociologist 1925–1995

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