Explain civil society.

Students' answers may vary.
Civil society encompasses the voluntary associations that lie between the private realm of the family and the public sphere of politics.Alexis de Tocqueville, the French democratic theorist who visited the United States in the 1830s, argued that the great strength of American democracy lay precisely in the character of its voluntary associations.Voluntary associations, from food banks to labor unions, from Boys and Girls Clubs to arts associations, act like informal schools, enabling citizens to develop the civic skills that are necessary to participate effectively in a democracy.Civic associations can help to take the rough edges off of American individualism, with its tendency to worship individual wealth and competitiveness.Such associations help people realize that they are part of a community and that a meaningful life is found not in possessions but in building a shared life with others.