Voluntary Association Participation and White Ethnic Diversity in Rural Iowa Communities

Membership in voluntary associations is of core importance to civil society. In this study, I build on the large literature that focuses on how community racial/ethnic diversity affects individuals’ joining of—and participation within—voluntary associations. The central focus is on White ethnicity or European ancestry, which I analyze using the 2004 Iowa Community Survey and 2000 U.S. Census data. I find that White ethnic diversity is associated with fewer overall memberships and less frequent participation, with differing effects for various large groupings of voluntary organizations. I close our study by discussing the implications of my findings for organizations and the broader community.

Social process in a voluntary organisation: a study of adult membership in the Scout Association of New Zealand

<p>This thesis examines social processes in a large, voluntary organisation. The investigation was concerned with the activities and retention of lower-level adult members in the Scout Association of New Zealand. The demographic, socio-economic and organisational background of members, their attitudes, and the organisational context within which activity occurs were examined with reference to the relationship of these variables with the satisfaction, commitment and participation of members. Particular attention was given to five organisational variables: size, communication, control, support and effectiveness. Attitudinal variables such as solidarity, ideology, prestige and orientation were also examined. It was found that the organisational variables were most clearly related to differences in satisfaction, commitment and participation. This was described firstly in terms of an association between larger size, better and more frequent communication, and higher levels of control, support, and effectiveness. The latter in turn was related to higher levels of satisfaction, commitment, and participation. Background variables, particularly age, also proved important. This suggested that the life cycle plays a part in voluntary association membership and activity. It was concluded that the main organisational variables are affected by the peripheral structural position of voluntary associations in New Zealand society. The sanctions available to senior officials are few and generally weak, and there is often little pressure to pursue some of the more intangible formal goals. Adherence to official procedures varies, with frequent blockages of control, communication and support. This results in considerable differences in the organisational environment within which members operate. The study was carried out over two years. Observation, semi-structured and unstructured interviews were used, as well as a lengthy questionnaire.</p>

The Impact of Civic and Religious Social Capital on the Antisocial Attitudes of the Youth: A Multi-Level Cross-National Study

The main goal of this paper is to investigate whether some dimensions of civic and religious social capital are connected to antisocial attitudes of the youth. Based on the social capital theory and previous research, the author assumed that membership of voluntary associations as a dimension of civic social capital and attendance at religious services as a dimension of religious social capital, will be negatively correlated with antisocial attitudes of the youth. The integrated dataset of the last European Values Study and the World Values Survey waves were used as the sources of the research data. The dataset was comprised of 11,411 respondents who were younger than 25 years old from 79 countries. As hypothesized, at the individual level, attendance at religious services was negatively correlated with antisocial attitudes, whereas membership of voluntary associations was positively correlated with antisocial attitudes. At the country level, none of the hypothesized correlations were confirmed. A cross-level interaction between GDP and associational membership was found. The author explains the findings by evoking the special characteristics of religious social capital and its strength in building moral obligations and by suggesting possible differences in incentives for joining voluntary associations in the countries with different levels of economic wealth.

Noah and Moses in Acts 15: Group Models and the Novelty of the Way

This article argues that Acts 15 alludes both to commandments associated with Noah and pentateuchal legislation on the gerim, though without consistently developing either of these allusions. As a result, this chapter presents the Way as a novel movement that both corresponds with and transcends familiar categories. By discussing Acts’ simultaneous evoking and negation of other models (voluntary associations, Bacchic mystery cults, philosophical schools and ethnic groups), I argue that Acts 15 reflects a literary strategy evident throughout Acts. This strategy enabled the author of Acts to anchor the Way into the structures and traditions of the early Roman Empire.

THE CONCEPT OF CIVIL SOCIETY, ITS FORMATION IN UKRAINE, FUNCTIONS AND FEATURES

The concept of «civil society» in modern political science is given. The relevance of its theoretical and practical aspects which is caused by the obvious increase the role of ordinary citizens and their voluntary associations in all spheres of human society: economic, political, social, spiritual, is analyzed. The successes of public organizations and movements of people of good will in the field of detente of international tensions, in providing assistance to peoples affected by natural disasters, catastrophes and other social unrest are widely known. It was established that the basis of victories is the development of civil society, high activity of citizens and their voluntary associations. This is achievable only in a sufficiently developed civil society. It has been proved that success comes where the business activity of citizens and the non-governmental structures they create increases, state intervention in economic, social and spiritual life is limited, where civil society develops and improves. The theoretical and applied aspects of the phenomenon of civil society are comprehended through a theoretical analysis of the concept of civil society in the history of socio-philosophical and political thought, from Plato and Aristotle to the views of modern researchers. It is emphasized that civil society is a type of social system, the hallmark of which is the real multi-subjectivity of economic, social, cultural and political life. The formation and development of civil society in Ukraine during the years of independence is analyzed. It is proved that the formation of civil society is manifested in the formation of its institutions - voluntary public associations, public movements, trade unions, independent media, public opinion as a social institution, elections and referendums as a means of public expression and protection of public-dependent interests. judicial and law enforcement systems, etc. The peculiarities of the interaction of civil society and the rights` state are substantiated.

Orthodoxy at the Gentlemen’s Club

Princeton, with its Old School Presbyterian heritage, had stronger sectarian theological ties than other leading schools. President James McCosh, an accomplished Scottish philosopher, helped modernize the college while still keeping a strong religious presence. In famous debates with Charles Eliot in the 1880s, he argued that freedom always works within limits. His successor, Francis Patton, was rigorously conservative in his Presbyterian orthodoxy but ran Princeton very much as a gentlemen’s club. Woodrow Wilson as president helped professionalize the university but remained loyal to broad Christian ideals. As at other schools of the era, the most vigorous religious expressions were in student voluntary associations.

Dissolution of expressive and instrumental voluntary associations: Four key dimensions in explaining organizational change

This study inspects the reasons as for why voluntary associations end their activity and dissolve as legal entities. The empirical data was gathered through semi-structured interviews with former leaders of 30 organizations in Estonia and Finland. To appreciate the sector’s diversity, the analysis makes a distinction between associations with mainly expressive, and those with mainly instrumental functions. Causes for the associations’ dissolution fall into four different categories related to (1) the association as a social entity, (2) resources, (3) goals and (4) environment. Reasons belonging to the first category of internal, social reasons, such as problems of leadership, internal organization and membership recruitment were the most common ones. However, several reasons often intertwined. A comparison between associations of different types showed that expressive associations were most often threatened by causes in the first category, while they were surprisingly immune to the other ones. Instrumental associations are dependent on other actors and external circumstances, and the reasons for their dissolution are likely to be related to problems with resource acquisition, goals or environments.