ABSTRACT
Development is often conceptualised in economic or political terms but it also shapes and is shaped by social structures, beliefs and systems. Indeed it is often concerns about negative social change that is at the core of equitable development critiques. For the purposes of this book social spaces will be conceptualised as those spaces that exist between the state, the market and the household in which people of similar identities, positionalities or interests organise to resist or influence development processes. Hence the focus is primarily upon civil society, the collection of social movements and NGOs that represent social concerns and lobby for changes to development processes. From the perspective of equitable development civil society plays a vital role. It provides an alternative means through which people can be empowered to participate in development; it facilitates social networks in which people can imagine alternative futures; it strengthens people’s capacity to contest the distribution of wealth and resources; and it allows people to lobby for more sustainable development approaches. Within alternative and post-development theories the activities that take place in social spaces are seen as the most transparent and organic representations of the people’s needs, desires and concerns. This chapter will explore social spaces in Southeast Asia by introducing key elements of civil society before profiling social action relating class, religion and gender.
