Replacing Members with Managers? Mutualism among Membership and Nonmembership Advocacy Organizations in the United States

• Published in: The American journal of sociology Vol. 116; no. 4; pp. 1284 - 1337
• Main Authors: Walker, Edward T., McCarthy, John D., Baumgartner, Frank
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chicago, IL University of Chicago Press 01.01.2011; University of Chicago, acting through its Press
• Subjects: Advocacy; Citizen Participation; Civil Society; Debates; Engagement; Females; Founding; Human Rights; Managers; Mao Tse-tung; Membership; Membership groups; Memberships; Organizational behavior; Organizations; Peace; Political Participation; Professional Associations; Professional organizations; Social problems and social policy. Social work; Sociology; Sociology of organizations and enterprises. Bureaucracy and administration; Sociology of work and sociology of organizations; Transformation; U.S.A; United States of America; Women's issues; United States > US; Human rights; Advocacy; Association; Organization; Staff; Citizenship; Commitment
• ISSN: 0002-9602; 1537-5390
• DOI: 10.1086/655753

Associations with a professional staff but no members (nonmembership advocacy organizations, or NMAOs) are the subject of lively debate. Many argue that their proliferation has allowed an expansion of advocacy without an accompanying growth in civic engagement. This article asks if there has been significant recent growth of NMAOs and if those organizations have displaced membership advocacy organizations (MAOs). The authors find no evidence for a proportional increase of NMAOs since the 1960s. Further, among all organizations in three populations -- peace, women's issues, and human rights -- NMAOs have not displaced MAOs. In particular, the authors find that MAO density shapes NMAO founding, as membership groups provide a base for professional advocacy. These findings challenge the notion that U.S. civic life has undergone a systemic transformation away from organizational forms that promote civic engagement. Adapted from the source document.