{"id":3446,"date":"2018-08-10T10:08:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T14:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/?p=3446"},"modified":"2018-08-10T10:50:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T14:50:48","slug":"private-public-plural","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/main\/private-public-plural.php","title":{"rendered":"Private, public, plural"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the U.S. we’ve agreed to disagree about what to call that “other” sector of collective action that isn’t private (aka, privately owned business) and isn’t public (aka, government). Non-profit, not-for-profit, third, social, civil, voluntary all capture bits of it, but miss important bits as well. Which is why I’m increasingly fond of Henry Mintzberg’s framing and naming for this other sector: plural<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>

cc Flickr: George Rex<\/p><\/div>\n

In\u00a0Rebalancing Society<\/em><\/a>, he suggests “plural” as the best way to consider the intentions, actions, and purposes for this other sector. And he further suggests that vibrant societies are about balance rather than single-sector strength. Says he:<\/p>\n

Strength in all three sectors is necessary for a society to be balanced. Imagine them as the sturdy legs of a stool — or pillars, if you wish — on which a healthy society has to be supported: a public sector of political forces rooted in respected governments, a private sector of economic forces based on responsible businesses, and a plural sector of social forces manifested in robust communities. (p.27)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mintzberg is certainly not the first to suggest a three-legged platform for thriving societies. But his framing of “plural” as one of those legs is a productive contribution, because it includes a vast range of collective efforts — not just formal institutions — such as social movements, cooperatives, and informal collaborations:<\/p>\n

\u2026the plural sector comprises all associations of people that are owned neither by the state nor by private investors. Some are owned by their members; others are owned by no one.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, formal institutions are still in there too: not-for-profit arts organizations, educational institutions, social services, volunteer enterprises. But they are surrounded by the dark matter of millions of informal and often unrecognized collectives that support and advance a resilient plural life.<\/p>\n

Mintzberg is also clear that each of the three sectors has unique strengths, but also insidious downsides — private (markets) can be crass, public (governments) can be crude, plural (communities) can be closed — which is why each sector must strive toward its best self (more productive, less destructive<\/a>, as I’ve said before), and each must play well with others.<\/p>\n

The plural sector is NOT a midpoint between private and public. It is a third way of attracting, aligning, and activating people and resources. I’m planning to continue taking the framing and naming out for a spin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the U.S. we’ve agreed to disagree about what to call that “other” sector of collective action that isn’t private (aka, privately owned business) and isn’t public (aka, government). Non-profit, not-for-profit, third, social, civil, voluntary all capture bits of it, but miss important bits as well. Which is why I’m increasingly fond of Henry Mintzberg’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3446"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3452,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3446\/revisions\/3452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/artfulmanager\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}