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While there are a myriad definitions of civil society, the London School of Economics Centre for Civil Society working definition is illustrative:

Civil society refers to the arena of uncoerced collective action around shared interests, purposes and values. In theory, its institutional forms are distinct from those of the state, family and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society, family and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated. Civil society commonly embraces a diversity of spaces, actors and institutional forms, varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. Civil societies are often populated by organisations such as registered charities, development non-governmental organisations, community groups, women's organisations, faith-based organisations, professional associations, trades unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associations, coalitions and advocacy group.

Examples of civil society institutions:

• non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
• private voluntary organizations (PVOs)
• peoples’ organizations
• community-based organizations
• civic clubs
• trade unions
• gender, cultural, and religious groups
• charities
• social and sports clubs
• cooperatives
• environmental groups
• professional associations
• academiaPlato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. Academia is a general term for the whole of higher education and research. The word comes from the Greek referring to the greater
• policy institutions
• consumers/consumer organizations
• the mediaFor other uses, of the word Media see media (disambiguation). The media is the whole body of communications that reach large numbers of the public via radio, television, movies, magazines, newspapers and the World Wide Web. The term was coined in the 1920
• citizens' militiaPolitical movements A militia is a group of citizens organized to provide paramilitary service. The word can have four slightly different meanings: an official reserve army composed of non-professional soldiers; the police in Russia or East European count
• organized religionReligion sometimes used interchangeably with faith, is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the practices and institutions associated with such belief. Borobudur, a Buddhist stupa built between 750 and 850 Adriaen

The term is currently often used by critics and activists as a reference to sources of resistance to and the domain of social life which needs to be protected against globalizationGlobalization (or globalisation in its literal sense is a social change, an increased connectivity among societies and their elements due to transculturation; the explosive evolution of transport and communication technologies to facilitate international. However, within the United Nations context, the phrase "civil society" has been a source of some controversy, as its meaning also includes businesses as well as private voluntary organisationsPrivate voluntary organization Chrysler Performance Vehicle Operations. – see United Nations: Partners in Civil Society

See also: NGO, NGOs in Consultative Status, social capital, civilisation, sociology, political science, open society