The Palgrave Handbook of Volunteering, Civic Participation, and Nonprofit Associations

David Horton Smith, Robert A. Stebbins, Jurgen Grotz, David Horton Smith, Robert A. Stebbins, Jurgen Grotz

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781137263179
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Sociología

Written by over 200 leading experts from over seventy countries, this handbook provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the latest theory and research on volunteering, civic participation and nonprofit membership associations. The first handbook on the subject to be truly multinational and interdisciplinary in its authorship, it represents a major milestone for the discipline. Each chapter follows a rigorous theoretical structure examining definitions, historical background, key analytical issues, usable knowledge, and future trends and required research. The nine parts of the handbook cover the historical and conceptual background of the discipline; special types of volunteering; the major activity areas of volunteering and associations; influences on volunteering and association participation; the internal structures of associations; the internal processes of associations; the external environments of associations; the scope and impacts of volunteering and associations; and conclusions and future prospects. This handbook provides an essential reference work for third-sector research and practice, including a valuable glossary of terms defining over eighty key concepts. Sponsored by the International Council of Voluntarism, Civil Society, and Social Economy Researcher Associations (ICSERA; www.icsera.org), it will appeal to scholars, policymakers and practitioners, and helps to define the emergent academic discipline of voluntaristics.

Part I

Historical and Conceptual Background

1

History of Associations and Volunteering

Bernard Harris (UK), Andrew Morris (USA), Richard S. Ascough (Canada), Grace L. Chikoto (Zimbabwe), Peter R. Elson (Canada), John McLoughlin (UK), Martti Muukkonen (Finland), Tereza Pospíšilová (Czech Republic, formerly part of Czechoslovakia), Krishna Roka (Nepal), David H. Smith (USA), Andri Soteri-Proctor (UK), Anastasiya S. Tumanova (Russia), and Pengjie YU (China)

A. Introduction

This chapter examines the history of the topics in its title, with major emphasis on the history of associations. This Handbook is very clearly about associationalism writ large, not about associations and social welfare only (Smith 2015c). The latter issue is one key piece of the total puzzle, but we aim to cover the whole range of association types and time periods. Volunteering seems to be a characteristic of our species, with informal (unorganized) volunteering probably going back to our origins 150,000–200,000 years ago. Formal volunteering in associations can only be traced back about 10,000 years to the origins of associations in which to do such volunteering (Anderson 1971; Bradfield 1973). Volunteering in formal volunteer service programs (VSPs) as departments of other organizations is very recent historically, only going back to the mid-1800s (Smith 2015b; see Handbook Chapter 15). We know very little about the long history even of formal volunteering, since volunteering leaves few physical or written traces and was seldom mentioned by historians as a phenomenon until the past few hundred years.

The chapter is structured around major historical periods in which associations have existed, beginning about 10,000 years ago, when many human societies settled down in villages from being small, nomadic, hunter-gathering bands. Thus, we discuss associations in (1) preliterate horticultural societies, (2) ancient agrarian societies, (3) recent pre-industrial societies, and (4) industrial and post-industrial societies.

Associations have left more traces than volunteering in the historical, archeological, and anthropological records. Many anthropologists have included descriptions of associations in their ethnographic accounts of various preliterate societies (e.g., Anderson 1971; Bradfield 1973; Goldschmidt 1959; Lowie 1950:chapter 13; Ross 1976; Schurtz 1902; Smith 1997; Webster 1908). The history of associations (voluntary associations, common interest associations) is very important because associations were clearly the first form of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to arise. They still dominate this sector in all societies in terms of numbers of separate groups and members/staff (e.g., Smith 2000:chapter 2, 2014, 2015c). Paid-staff nonprofit service agencies (voluntary agencies) now dominate the nonprofit sector in developed/industrialized and post-industrial/service societies in terms of wealth, income, and influence (Smith 2015d). This latter, familiar form of NPOs arose thousands of years after associations and has come to prominence only in the past 100–200 years in modern societies, with the exception of major world religious NPOs (ibid.).

The strict interpretation of the term history refers to written history. This chapter uses the broader interpretation of history as a thick description of all prior events. Further, this chapter is primarily concerned with social and institutional history and the history of daily life, rather than with political or economic history, although we do deal with some economic and political history also. We will begin, thus, with the reconstructed history of associations based on anthropology and archaeology, before going on to the works of professional and amateur historians. Our interest is in summarizing the interdisciplinary history of associations without concern for the academic disciplines of those who have contributed to this knowledge.

B. Definitions

This chapter accepts the general definitions presented in the Appendix of this Handbook. Various specialized terms for associations and types of associations will be introduced in context as they arise in the chapter text. A set of nine chapters discussing in detail the issues and alternative definitions of voluntary associations was presented long ago in Smith, Reddy and Baldwin’s book (1972: Part One). A recent set of definitions of association and related concepts can be found in Smith, Stebbins, and Dover (2006:23 and passim).

The main problematic issue about defining an association concerns the extent to which membership is either voluntary or coerced. In 20th-century research, trade/labor unions and religious congregations have sometimes been omitted from the category of associations on the grounds that joining is either hereditary (in the case of religious congregations) or compulsory (in the case of closed-shop unions). That approach to defining associations has largely been overcome by current researchers and theorists, who usually include both religious and economic associations (such as unions, professional associations, trade associations) as specific purpose-activity types of associations.

The problem of definition remains for associations in preliterate societies. In some small horticultural villages, which were independent societies, there was often only one association, usually for adult males. Hence, joining and membership were largely ascriptive (automatic, coercive). Such associations, whether unique or multiple in their existence, have been called sodalities by anthropologists (e.g., Lowie 1950:chapter 13).

Other anthropologists and sociologists have referred to such associations as common interest associations, avoiding the issue of voluntary versus coercive/ascriptive joining and membership (Smith, Stebbins, and Dover 2006:48). Lowie’s (1950) review of prior ethnographic research on sodalities in preliterate societies makes it clear that two or more such associations were often present in a village society, especially a large village, making joining and membership truly voluntary. Research he reviewed also notes the presence of separate structures (buildings, in a loose sense) as clubhouses in various societies, as do other authors discussing sodalities in preliterate societies (e.g., Bradfield 1973; Ross 1976:48–51; Schurtz 1902; Webster 1908).

C. Historical background

Because this whole chapter is about the history of associations and volunteering, this section is the main part of the chapter, and Section D, on key issues, is omitted. The various chronological time periods that are discussed below become the key issues in this chapter, answering the question, “What associations were present in various historical time periods?” This chapter is an extensive elaboration of the kind of meta-history of associations first presented in Smith (1997).

1. Anthropology and the pre-history of associations in preliterate societies

According to Robert Anderson (1971:209), “the history of formal common interest associations during the first million years of human existence lends itself to brief statement: there were virtually none.” He then qualified this statement by adding that, as Walter Goldschmidt (1959:155–156) had suggested, “in a few instances a kind of religious sodality may have cut across band and family ties, as in the totemic groups of some Australian aborigines today.” He also claimed that “although rare, the common interest associations of hunting nomads invariably unite individuals in terms of religious beliefs” (Anderson 1971:209). However, other authors have found evidence for the existence of different types of association among members of hunter-gatherer/fisher societies. Johnson and Earle (2000:178) have described the formation of voluntary associations of whale hunters in Eskimo Tareumiut society, and Lynn Gamble (2002) has highlighted the role played by specialist associations of canoe builders (the Brotherhood of the Tomol) among the Chumash Indians of southern California – both being examples of preliterate economic/occupational associations.

One of the main problems raised by attempts to reconstruct the history of associations over such long periods is the lack of direct evidence for the most distant past. This has led previous authors, such as Anderson (1971), Bradfield (1973), and Ross (1976), to infer the extent of associational activity among preliterate societies in millennia long ago from more recent anthropological evidence. However, it is generally accepted that formal associations became more prevalent following the development of settled agriculture beginning about 10,000 years ago (Nolan and Lenski 2006). Because agriculture was very simple, essentially gardening, such societies are usually termed horticultural societies, in contrast to more developed agriculture of later agrarian societies, which supported large, ancient civilizations eventually (ibid.; also, Johnson and Earle 2000). Smith (1997:191) attributes the development of associations within horticultural societies to the fact that they were typically much larger than hunter-gatherer societies, inhabited permanent settlements, and were characterized by greater craft specialization and more complex status systems (also, Nolan and Lenski 2006).

Various attempts have been made to develop typologies of voluntary associations, based on anthropological evidence. In Social Organization, Lowie (1950:294–309) identified a number of different types of associations, based on examples of the pastoral societies with which he was familiar: men’s tribal associations (including tribal clubs and tribal secret societies); more exclusive secret societies; exclusive clubs for the elite but not practicing secrecy; age classes/associations (including separate associations for spinsters and bachelors); and economic sodalities (including different types of guilds/associations for workers in different economic specialties). However, Smith (1997:192) has questioned whether many tribal associations or exclusive clubs can really be regarded as voluntary associations (vs. often compulsory common interest associations) and also the extent to which we can extrapolate from the experience of contemporary economic guilds or associations to the more distant past (on typologies, see also Handbook Chapter 3).

2. Associations in ancient agrarian societies

Although much of the evidence for associations in preliterate societies has been derived from anthropological sources, we have much more direct evidence for the existence of associations in ancient, partially literate, agrarian societies. Such societies had a more advanced agricultural economy (using irrigation, fertilizer, deep plows, enhanced seeds, insecticides, etc.; Johnson and Earle 2000). Much of this evidence comes from various types of inscriptions, honorific degrees, membership lists, funerary monuments, religious dedications, legal and fiscal documents, and literary accounts (see, e.g., Ascough, Harland, and Kloppenborg 2012; Kloppenborg and Ascough 2011:3–4).

(a) China

In the case of China, Ross (1976:73–85) identifies five different types of association which can be considered as at least partially voluntary. The first was the tsu, which can be traced back at least as far as the Shang dynasty (123 BCE). Although this was “a formally-organised agnatic descent group tracing its origin in a certain locality to a specific ancestor” (p. 73), Ross argued that it could be regarded as a quasi-voluntary association because there was the possibility of exit and membership could be extended to non-family members by the invention of fictive genealogical links. The tsu served partly as a means of ancestor worship, but also as a source of mutual aid, providing a range of services, including education, care of the elderly, and burial assistance, to its members.

The welfare functions of the tsu were complemented by those of the hui and the she. The term she can be dated back to the 6th century BCE and was used to describe an association of 20–50 households that provided each other with a series of different kinds of practical support, including help with farm work, various kinds of welfare assistance, and opportunities for collective worship. The she became incorporated into the machinery of local government from the 13th century CE onwards (Ross 1976:76–77). The term hui refers to a number of different kinds of village-based associations providing a range of specialist services, including temple maintenance, worship, crop-watching, canal and granary repair, and even drama presentation. There were also more general hui, providing support for the village as a whole (Ross 1976:77–78).

Ross also examined the evidence for the existence of economic associations, or guilds, in ancient China. He drew particular attention to a guild of bankers which could be traced back to 200 BCE (Ross 1976:79). However, Morse (1909:9) claimed that the Bankers Guild of Ningpo traced its craft back to pre-Christian times, and Moll-Murata (2008:213) suggests that there is little evidence for the existence of European-style guilds in China before the late 16th century CE. There is rather more evidence for the antiquity of secret societies in China. According to Chesneaux (1972:2), the oldest of these organizations can be traced back to the struggles of Liu Pang and his sworn brothers against the Ch’in dynasty in the 3rd century CE, and to the Yellow Turbans’ campaign against the Han four centuries later.

(b) India

There appears to be rather less evidence of voluntary associations in ancient India. Ross (1976:85–91) attributes this to the effects of the caste system and to the particular nature of village organization during the very long caste period. However, Drekmeier (1962:18–19, 275–277) argues that “guilds of woodworke...