Civic Participation: Chapter 3

Americans are more likely to be involved in voluntary associations than citizens of most other nations. The only nations with more participation in voluntary organizations are some of the small nations in northern Europe.

Three Categories of American Voluntary Associations
v Community Based
v Church Based
v Work Based
Community Based
v Between 1968-1997 the number of nonprofit organizations in the US increased from 10,299 to 22,901
v However, though there is more than double the number of different organizations, average membership per organizations has decreased from 10,000 to 1,000
v Traditionally organizations such as the Boy Scouts, Knights of Columbus, Lions Club, etc… were headquartered in areas of high group participation
New Type of Organization
v The AARP, one of the fastest growing and largest organizations in the nation, is located in the center of Washington DC
v It is a professionally staffed advocacy center and is not member-centered
v It depends on financial support from its members and represents them in a political sense; however, it does not give the members a community to join and interact in
v For these types of group the only act of membership is writing a check for the dues, they have no interaction with other members even though they share the same interests
Organizations with Community Based Activity
v Participation in these groups from 1900-2000
§ Steady growth from 1900-1930
§ 1930-1940 participation plummets during Great Depression
§ Post WWII to 1957 period of greatest growth
§ 1957-mid 1960’s plateau
§ Mid 1960’s to present steady decline
Active Participation
v Active Participation(serving as an officer or committee member) has also showed steady declines
§ Between 1973 and 1994 the percentage of people who took a leadership role decreased by more than 50%
· In 1973, 16% of all organization members had served an active role
· By 1994, that percentage had decreased to 8%
Hours of Participation per Month
v Between 1965 and 1995, once each decade a sample of Americans was asked to complete “time diaries” recording how they spent every minute of a certain day. From these diaries data has been constructed about how much time was spent in community organization involvement.
v In 1965, the average American spent 3.7 hours per month on organizational life (excluding religious organizations), by 1995 that number was down to 2.3 hours
v In 1965, on an average day 7% of Americans spent some time in a community organization, by 1995 only 3% did
Leisure Money Spent on Organizations
v In 1929, 6 cents out of every dollar of consumer spending for leisure and recreation was for club and fraternal dues.
v By 1997, it had decreased to 3 cents per dollar

Thus whether you are considering organization membership, active involvement, time diaries, or percentage of leisure money spent, all the data supports the fact that community organization participation has fallen greatly over the past three decades. If the current rate of decline in community organizations continues in America, clubs would be extinct within less than twenty years.

Discussion Points
v What could be done to revive participation in community based organizations?
v How are these new organizations such as AARP harming the traditional community based organizations?
v Most college students are involved in some of these types of organizations, what could be done to keep these students in groups after they graduate?