Making sense of 'society', 'Big Society' and the state

by Simon Bottery, director of fundraising, policy, and communications

I hit a raw nerve when I asked Lord Victor Adebowale at a conference Tuesday about David Cameron's view that, 'there is such a thing as society, it's just not the same as the state'. I was expecting him to be sceptical about aspects of the Big Society. I was vainly (both senses of the word) hoping that he might like my joke that, 'there is such a thing as society, it's just not the same as Guardian Society.' So I was surprised that he refused to find any truth whatsoever in Cameron's statement. I may have misunderstood, but he seemed to be saying that in reality there was no point in discussing one without the other.

Can this really be true? If I offer to help my neighbour clear her snow away from her front door, surely that is a good reflection of society. But has it anything to do with the state? Surely not. I may want and expect my local authority to clear snow from the roads and pavements, but am I really expecting thestate to have a role all the way up to my neighbour's front door and ven inside it?

My neighbour regularly collects parcels for me that are delivered when I am out. My family regularly feeds her cat while she is away. There are thousands of acts like this every day, carried out by individuals across the UK, who never expect to be supported by the state, paid or 'capacity built'.

Of course, there are also thousands of voluntary organisations who need support, development and funding. Formal volunteering roles are not free and anyone who thinks they are will be horribly confused if funding and support are withdrawn. But we shouldn't confuse or conflate one with the other.