Dominant Statuses and Involvement in Formal Voluntary Associations

Abstract

Statement of the ProblemSociologists have produced a wealth of literature in the field of voluntary associations and social participation. However, among the mass of facts and ideas there is one major void; most studies are descriptive and lack the abstract concepts and theoretical framework necessary for integrating the various findings and trends. There are relatively few conceptual schemes which tie together these facts so that one knows how and why the various aspects and dimensions involved in voluntary organization participation relate to each other (Coleman, 1951: 135; Freeman, et al., 1957: 533). The absence of conceptual schemes is particularly evident at the level of broad generalizations. Gordon and Babchuk (1959: 22-29) classified voluntary associations according to their degree of accessibility of membership, status conferring capacity and instrumental vs. expressive attributes. The resulting typology enabled them to develop propositions for analyzing the relationships among these variables and for analyzing how they relate to functions of organizations and demographic factors such as age, sex, nativity, and education of members.Arnold Rose (1954) viewed voluntary associations as contributing to the deveopment and maintenance of democratic societies. Thus, he approaches these organizations from a functionalist viewpoint. Voluntary associations satisfy basic functional requirements in a democratic society, he argues, and thus have a positive value for this type of system. On the other hand, other types of societal systems (non-democratic) either do not require or restrict voluntary association development.Hagedorn and Labovitz (1968: 282-283) use three general theories --those of alienation, socialization and task generalization --to predict the membership and participation in voluntary associations of members of two complex work organizations. Their findings indicate that the utility of the three theories, as predictive mechanisms, varies according to the dimension one is using as an independent variable (e.g., subjective or behavioral, formal or informal roles).All the above references have two common characteristics:(1) a deductive logic to develop a rationale is employed and (2) the generalizability of the propositions are somewhat limited to specific conditions. For example, the instrumental-expressive typology and the resultant predictions are most relevant in societies having cultures which make instrumental-expressive distinctions. Such a distinction is appropriate for Western societies with a work vs. recreation dilemma, an intrinsic value vs. extrinsic value dilemma, or a collectivity orientation vs. self orientation dilemma. However, what happens in non-Western societies, or in situations not making such means-ends distinctions? The functionalist view of voluntary association participation focuses on democratic societies. Does one assume (or state by definition) that there are no voluntary associations, or that there are fewer associations in non-democratic societies?' How does one exp...

The Implications of Sex Differences on Volunteer Preferences

“…A sociological explanation of volunteering relied on a dominant status framework (Lemon et al 1972) or a social learning model (Bandura 1969). An economic explanation of volunteering used activity theory to portray volunteering as a substitute for paid work (Chambré 1993;Chambre 1984;Stephan 1991).…”

The Effects of Race, Gender, and Marital Status on Giving and Volunteering in Indiana

“…The dominant status model developed by Lemon, Palisi, and Bennett-Sandler (1972) and further elaborated by D. H. Smith (1983Smith ( , 1994 would predict less participation for minorities because of their less prevalent social positions and roles within our sociocultural system. In general, most studies find that Whites do volunteer more than Blacks and Latinos (e.g., Bryant et al, 2003;Cannon, Higginbotham, & Leung, 1988;Gallagher, 1994;Sundeen, 1992;Todd et al, 1984); however, this often depends on whether bivariate or multivariate techniques are employed (D. H. Smith, 1994) or whether the individual was asked to volunteer (Bryant et al, 2003, Musick et al, 2000.…”

The Multidimensionality of Joining

“…Some theoretical work pertaining to membership also suggests the multidimensionality of joining. For example, from Lemon et al (1972) it can be predicted that status characteristics will be differentially related to membership in that the emphasis is placed on the differing goals and membership requirements of groups rather than the characteristics of joiners. the multidimensiOnality Of JOining 37 In contrast to the many studies that have used community or regional samples, we use a representative national sample of 3,075 adult Americans to examine the independent and interactive effects of nine social and demographic variables, often reported to be important determinants of affiliation, on five of the most common forms of voluntary associations.…”