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International Journal of Comparative Sociology
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The Roots of Civil Society: A Model of Voluntary Association Prevalence Applied to Data on Larger Contemporary Nations

David Horton Smith

Department of Sociology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, U.S.A.

Ce Shen

Academic and Research Services, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, U.S.A.

Based on a literature review, a theory of voluntary association prevalence in nations of the world is proposed. Greater associational prevalence is hypothesized to result from certain societal background factors (greater population size, and more favorable historical/cultural/environmental interface), aspects of basic societal structure (more permissive political control, greater modernization, more developed non-associational organizational field, and greater ethno-religious heterogeneity), and societal mobilization factors (aggregate resource mobilization for associations, aggregate social cohesion). Archival data on larger contemporary nations strongly confirm most of the model independently for two separate time periods, the 1970s and early 1990s. The ethno-religious heterogeneity variable is not confirmed as significant. No suitable data were available to test aggregate social cohesion as part of the empirical model tested. The results have important policy implications for the roots of civil society, political pluralism, and participatory democracy, partially as manifestations of social capital in a society.

Key Words: civil society • voluntary association • cross-national • NGO • social cohesion

International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Vol. 43, No. 2, 93-133 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/002071520204300201
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[Abstract] [PDF]