A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States Export

@article{citeulike:808162, abstract = {We challenge the widely held view that classic American voluntary groups were tiny, local, and disconnected from government. Using newly collected data to develop a theoretically framed account, we show that membership associations emerged early in U.S. history and converged toward the institutional form of the representatively governed federation. This form enabled leaders and members to spread interconnected groups across an expanding nation. At the height of local proliferation, most voluntary groups were part of regional or national federations that mirrored the structure of U.S. government. Institutionalist theories suggest reasons for this parallelism, which belies the rigid dichotomy between state and civil society that informs much current discussion of civic engagement in the United States and elsewhere.}, author = {Skocpol, Theda and Ganz, Marshall and Munson, Ziad}, citeulike-article-id = {808162}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/2585829}, journal = {The American Political Science Review}, keywords = {participation, social-capital}, number = {3}, pages = {527--546}, posted-at = {2006-08-19 18:43:23}, priority = {2}, title = {A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States}, url = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/2585829}, volume = {94}, year = {2000} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:808162 L3 - citeulike-article-id:808162 N2 - We challenge the widely held view that classic American voluntary groups were tiny, local, and disconnected from government. Using newly collected data to develop a theoretically framed account, we show that membership associations emerged early in U.S. history and converged toward the institutional form of the representatively governed federation. This form enabled leaders and members to spread interconnected groups across an expanding nation. At the height of local proliferation, most voluntary groups were part of regional or national federations that mirrored the structure of U.S. government. Institutionalist theories suggest reasons for this parallelism, which belies the rigid dichotomy between state and civil society that informs much current discussion of civic engagement in the United States and elsewhere. IS - 3 JF - The American Political Science Review EP - 546 TI - A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States VL - 94 SP - 527 KW - participation KW - social-capital AU - Skocpol, Theda AU - Ganz, Marshall AU - Munson, Ziad PY - 2000/// UR - http://www.jstor.org/stable/2585829 ER -