Relational Roots of Civic Fields: Capital Conversion and Organizational Reproduction in a Developing Country

Social scientists have long studied the emergence of civic organizations through two dominant perspectives: demand-side theories arguing that these groups fill gaps left by government and market failures, and supply-side theories emphasizing resource mobilization and dependence. However, these theories insufficiently account for how contemporary nonprofits and social enterprises arise in increasingly networked, professionalized, and competitive environments. This article interrogates the relational roots of civic fields, centering the concrete ties and interactions through which new organizations are incubated, resourced, and legitimated. Using the case of a dozen new civic organizations in a developing country, I show how founders leverage interpersonal and interorganizational ties to convert social capital into intellectual, economic, human, and symbolic capital. However, this ability for capital conversion depended on actors’ positions in the field and dispositions embedded in their habitus. These processes contribute to the field’s organizational reproduction —that is, reproduction of professional practices, funding models, and state-aligned approaches mirroring founders’ shared social (dis)positions. As civic organizations play increasingly prominent roles in development and governance, understanding their relational origins helps explain whose visions of social change gain organizational form.