Civil Society: Participation in Wales, in place and over time

It has been suggested that, in the context of contemporary social and economic change, there has been a weakening and hollowing of civil society institutions, cohesion and a perceived fall in participation in activities. However, the theory of a decline in associational activity has also been challenged, with research pointing instead to a more nuanced landscape of local civil society.
Our ongoing research explores ordinary people’s experiences and narratives of participation within one particular place in North East Wales. Through combining ethnographic and biographical narrative interview methods we address issues of continuity and change in participation in grassroots civil society organisations at the local level. Our initial findings point to a range of changing patterns and practices in local civil society. This panel session will present for discussion evidence from our research across four themes:
 Links between economic change and civil society
 Religion and civil society
 Culture and language and generational change
 Volunteering, activism, mobilisation and the Third Sector