A useful overview of the so-called Big Society from Jackie Ashley in The Guardian

Extract:

The questions that matter for national politicians are about how non-state social activism is supported, and where its limits lie. Supporting it can simply mean money, and that's Cameron's most obvious immediate problem. Many of the bodies that help the big society happen – from public libraries to out-of-hours school groups – are being destroyed because of the scale and timing of the cuts. For more than a century, local authorities have been the frontline between real citizens and politics, in a way Westminster can't be; and as dozens of Lib Dem councils are now saying, the cuts being made to councils undermine a kinder, more generous Britain.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/13/big-society-destruction-david-cameron