Occupational Characteristics and Participation in Voluntary Associations

Abstract

study analyzes the nature of the relations between participation in, and joining, voluntary associations and seven independent variables measuring dimensions of occupational tasks, organizational structure, and attitudinal importance of contacts. three dependent variables, i.e., participation, joining one or more associations, and joining three or more associations vary, to some degree, independently of one another and, therefore, are treated separately. seven independent variables are mental-manual, colleague control, bureaucratic control, formal contacts unimportant, informal contacts unimportant, leadership, and isolation. Twelve occupational groups were assigned numerical percentage scores on each of the independent and dependent variables. Correlational and multivariate analysis was performed on the variables. Task generalization as an explanation of participation and joining receives strong support from the study. Overall, three task-based variables, leadership, bureaucratic control, and mental-manual, explained most of the variation in the dependent variables. In general, more of the variation is accounted for in participation and joining three or more associations than in joining one or more. A consistent but often implicit approach in sociology is that homogeneity of experience leads to homogeneity of response. If people experience similar religion, education, occupation, or parental response, they will respond similarly to other stimuli, e.g., voting. One problem is determining what types of experiences are most crucial for what types of responses. Another problem is establishing the mechanisms that link homogeneity of experience to responses. Both problems are considered in the study, which focuses on certain homogeneous occupational experiences and the responses of participation in and joining voluntary associations. It has been demonstrated that participation in voluntary associations varies by occupations, and that occupational patterns do not follow any clear lines.' For example, not all 1 Frederick A. Bushee, Social Organization in a Small City, American Journal of Sociology, 51 (November 1945), pp. 217-226; Oscar Grusky, The Effects of Succession: A Comparative Study of Military and Business Organizations, in Morris Janowitz (ed.), New Military (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1964), pp. 83-111; Harold This content downloaded from 157.55.39.243 on Wed, 05 Oct 2016 04:44:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms OCCUPATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS 17 members of the same social class participate in the same way, and sometimes members of different classes participate in a similar manner. This paper is an extension of previous research which attempted to delineate characteristics of occupations that lead to differential participation in voluntary associations. Following the suggestions of Wilensky and especially Breer and Locke, these characteristics include the differential tasks and organizational requirements of occupations.2 One basic assumption is that work is a salient life experience and consequently work skills and attitudes are generalized to other areas of life, in this case, voluntary associations. Based on this assumption, predictions are made on the differential rates of participation and joining