Who among the following sociologists is the first to propound the concept of civil society?

Adam Ferguson is widely recognized as the first thinker to propound the modern concept of civil society in his 1767 work, 'An Essay on the History of Civil Society'. While the term had roots in classical thought, Ferguson developed an original historical analysis that began to distinguish the social sphere from the state. He, along with other Scottish Enlightenment thinkers like Adam Smith, broke the historic equation of civil society and the state, viewing it as a sphere of society with its own distinct characteristics. Later thinkers like G.W.F. Hegel and Antonio Gramsci further refined the concept; Hegel explicitly separated civil society from the state, and Gramsci analyzed it as a site of cultural hegemony. However, Ferguson remains the primary figure associated with its initial systematic formulation in social theory.