ABSTRACT
The most preferred mean of civic engagement is donation as a distant or extra-organizational way of engagement. This chapter describes the shape of civil societies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) regarding the relationship between citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs). The split between the theory of civil society as the sphere of personalized or organized activities is deeply rooted in the classical philosophical accounts of the public sphere and has been paralleled in social theory and research. The chapter focuses on various aspects of individual engagement in CEE countries. It also focuses on the advocacy function of civil society in which the interaction – or isolation – between individual and collective action poses a challenge both for social theory and research of CEE societies. The chapter draws on the individual level survey data from four CEE countries – Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary. The survey was based on a quota sampling strategy and was conducted via telephone interviews.
