ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the third sector case studies in Lyon, France, to further explore the impact of institutional logics on organizations’ approaches to co-production of services with service users/citizens. The chapter begins by outlining the context of the third sector in France and in Lyon, and it provides an overview of the organizations under study (five ‘social centres,’ a parent co-operative, and a multi-organization movement to tackle older people’s isolation). The French organizations are significantly shaped by both external rules (public policies and charters) and internal rules (governance arrangements). Their norms and practices around co-production exhibit a preponderance of the involvement of citizens in ‘co-construction’ of organizational plans and involvement in decision-making. Citizens are also involved in running co-operatives and in citizen-led projects. In terms of values and beliefs, organizations are informed by French political culture, notions of solidarity, citizenship, and empowerment. In sum, the French organizations are guided by a Social Solidarity Logic, which blends the local solidarity and French state logics. This results in co-production that is formalized as a rule, rather than a norm, and that focuses more on collective co-production and co-construction of policies.
