Privatisation is the process of moving economic resources from the public sector to the private sector. Publicly owned transportation resources, natural resources, hospitals, etc., may be sold to private individuals or to privately owned corporations. Recent resurgence of interest in classical liberalism, and also neo-liberalism has led to pressure to privatize government owned resources and services.
Privatization is the process of transferring ownership of a business, public service or property from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations. Privatization can also mean government out-sourcing of services to private firms, functions like revenue collection and prison management.
The term 'Privatisation' has also been applied to the growth in modern societies of a family life separated from the outer community. In traditional societies there is little separation of private and public spheres, but privatization appears to take place with urbanization and industrialization.
Privatization from below. That is, privatization through Start-up of new private businesses in formerly socialist countries.
Asset sale privatization. That
is, privatization through sale of entire organization (or part of it) to a strategic
investor, usually by auction or by using the Treuhand model
Voucher privatization. That is, privatization by distributing shares of ownership to all
citizens, usually for free or at a very low price.
Arthur Brittan: The Privatised World. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977
Arthur Brittan: Privatisation and Fragmentation, chapter 3 in his book The Privatised
World. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1977.
David Popenoe: The Metropolitan Community and the Privatisation of Life, in his book
Private Pleasure, Public Plight -American Metropolitan Community Life in Comparative
Perspective. New York: Transaction Books, 1985
Ian Procter: The Privatisation of Working-Class Life -A Dissenting View, British Journal
of Sociology, vol 41, no. 2, June 1990, pp 157-180.