Statlis and Voluntary Associations: a Cross-Cliltliral Study of Males in Three Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

Cross-cultural studies of the relationship between social status and voluntary associations are rare.The major multi-national study is reported by James Curtis (1971), and is based on a secondary analysis of data from Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and Mexico, which was largely gathered in 1959 and 1960. This report will provide more recent crosscultural data than that given by Curtis. Comparisons will be made between three metropolitan areas: Los Angeles, California; London, England; and Sydney, Australia. These metropolitan areas each have over 3.5 million residents; they have sprawling suburban regions, and are major sea ports, service centers and financial centers.In addition, each is part of an English-speaking, western-oriented, highly urbanized and very industrialized country (Burnley, 1974;Golden, 1981). HYPOTHESESSince this paper focuses on how social status influences voluntary association involvement, several variables will be viewed as dimensions of status. These include socio-economic status, marital status and age. They also include variables reflecting the conditions associated with a person's household, and the community background of respondents; variables not often seen as dimensions of social status.

National Trends in Voluntary Association Memberships: 1974-1984

“…This expectation is based on research from a variety of time periods showing that rates of memberships in organizations, especially instrumental associations, are highest for higher socioeconomic people, middle-aged people, males, white people, and married individuals (Palisi and Palisi, 1984;Edwards and White, 1980;McPherson and Lockwood, 1980;Knoke and Thomson, 1977;Nelson, Baker, and Nelson, 1978;Curtis, 1971;Hyman and Wright, 1971;Wright and Hyman, 1958;Palisi and Jacobson, 1977;Booth, Babchuk, and Knox, 1968). However, research has shown no consistent relation between membership in associations and rural or urban location (Curtis, 1971;Wright and Hyman, 1958).…”

Friendship in Three Metropolitan Areas: Cross-Cultural Evidence of Its Voluntariness

“…Young adults would seem to be the freest to become involved in voluntary behavior. If so, why are they relatively uninvolved in formal voluntary associations (Palisi and Palisi, 1984;Fischer, 1982)? Perhaps many voluntary associations do not recruit young adults for memberships.…”

Lernprozesse über die Lebensspanne

“…Die Studie soll bisherige wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse aus anderen Kontexten kritisch betrachten und daraus entwickelte Hypothesen überprüfen. Dazu zählt beispielsweise im Bereich "Wer sind die jungen Freiwilligen", die Hypothese, dass die dominat status theory, die besagt, dass es einen positiven Zusammenhang zwischen Freiwilligkeit und einem höheren sozioökonomischen Status und dem Bildungsniveau gibt (Palisi/Palisi 1984;Sundeen 1992), in den Jugendgruppen des Österreichischen Roten Kreuzes weniger stark zutrifft, als in vergleichbaren Studien zu jungen Freiwilligen; sowie im Bereich "Warum sind junge Menschen freiwillig tätig" die Hypothese, dass die Items des Volunteer Functions Inventory, welcher sechs Motivationsfunktionen von Freiwilligenarbeit -Erfahrung, Karriere, Schutz, Selbstwert, soziale Anpassung und Werte -misst (Clary/Snyder/Ridge 1992; Clary et al 1998)…”