Introduction

Since the 1990s, civil society organizations (CSOs), mainly within the category of ‘non-profit sector’ or ‘third sector’, have come to play a pivotal role within the field of social policy. Despite their historical record in providing assistance, their relevance and visibility has consistently grown with the unravelling of the public monopoly of social services that characterized Les Trente Glorieuses, and with the development of a market-based welfare system. The success of the non-profit sector is certainly due to economic factors – mostly its capacity to provide services at a lower price – but also to the legitimacy it enjoyed as a form of grassroots organization. Indeed, since Alexis de Tocqueville's thoughts on pauperism, the ability of a society to grant fundamental rights through self-organization rather than depending on ‘state charity’ was valued as a sign of vitality and democracy, and as a way to avoid the perverse effects of public intervention. Thus, the social policy turn to civil society can be seen as a means of achieving full citizenship: third sector institutions can contribute to grant a decent standard of living to everyone through providing services, but may also act as intermediaries between the state and citizens, protecting them from its possible abuses and promoting their own capabilities (Janoski, 1998).

The growth of non-profit organizations in an era of state retrenchment and within a market-based society may, however, provoke tension and threaten their potential in advancing citizenship. Starting from this paradox, this chapter explores the contradictions that the welfare mix can engender, with particular attention to the effects of the 2008 economic crisis, which acted as a shock that partially altered well-established balances and relationships. Resource constraints and the growing uncertainties that accompany them can indeed endanger citizens’ rights, triggering mechanisms of exploitation and value extraction that were previously little known in this field.

Our analysis starts with an outline of the key characteristics of the market for social welfare in Italy, and we then consider its development during the 2008 financial crisis. The second part of the chapter focuses more strictly on the non-profit sector: using social network analysis, the strategies employed and resulting organizational networks are illustrated, together with the consequences of outsourcing and privatization on the quality of labour.