An Analysis of Community and Professional Participation Among Occupations

Abstract

Occupational groups in a large-scale research organization are analyzed with regard to their membership and participation in community and professional associations. Community participation is measured in three empirically distinct ways: (1) percentage of each occupation in one or more associations, (2) percentage in three or more associations, and (3) percentage witlh high participation scale scores. Participation in professional associations was measured by scale scores following Chapin's method. In addition, occupational groups are analyzed in terms of their membership in four types of community associations-church, fraternal, neighborhood, and sport. Among community associations. some support is found for the hypothesis that individuals who join one type of association are likely to join other types. However, the relation between participation in community and professional associations is low. The study clearly supports the general importance of occupations in the explanation of membership and participation in voluntary associations. V oluntary associations are considered to be integrative for both society and the individual, as well as providing a direct way for individuals to initiate change.1 Consequently, sociologists have shown a continued interest in group participation in voluntary associations.2 This study follows the tradition of research concerned with the differences between the social characteristics of joiners and nonjoiners. In this way, the study is an expansion and partial replication of previous