RACE, ASSOCIATIONAL INVOLVEMENT, AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

DARRYL L. MCMILLER* Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut

ABSTRACT: Previous research on racial differences in group affiliation and activism examines the role of organizational involvement both as a form of social participation and as an independent predictor of political participation. This study is based on data from a national sample of the 1987 adult population that replicated the basic measures of social and political participation from Verba and Nies classic study. We separate our respondents into homogeneous racial groups and specify organizational participation by type of association to determine which group joins what organization and the relevance of such patterns for involvement in the polity. Although our findings only provide mixed support for the claim advanced by other scholars that Blacks social activity exceeds or equals that of Whites once controls for sociodemographic status are taken into consideration, these results provide clear evidence that Black and White organizations differ in their capacity to motivate their members for political activity.

INTRODUCTION
Alexis de Tocqueville, on his visit to the United States in 1831, was struck by this countrys tendency to form small-scale associations that create a fertile ground for political and economic development. Contemporary accounts of civil societys importance, however, are not as celebratory. Ever since the publication of Robert Putnams 1995 article Bowling Alone, scholars have focused considerable attention on the current status of Americas civil life. Bowling Alone, as the title suggests, portrays a significant decline in Americas associational habits. Putnams thesis has been the subject of considerable debate in both popular and scholarly literature (e.g., Bellah et al., 1996; Broader, 1995;

*Direct all correspondence to: Darryl L. McMiller, University of Connecticut, Department of Political Science, U-24, 341 Mansfield Road, Storrs, CT 06269-1024. RACE & SOCIETY, Volume 2, Number 1, pages 8395. Copyright 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 1090-9524.

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Galston, 1996; Greeley, 1997, Ladd, 1999; Samuelson, 1996; Schudson, 1996; Starr, 1995). But because much of the research on Americas associational activities largely concentrates on White, middle-class America, misconceptions abound when we try to consider the nature and meaning of Black social participation. In the United States, voluntary associations are a major source of individual-level participation in conventional politics. Evidently, voluntary associations provide settings in which individuals develop the attitudes and skills necessary for wider participation in the political system (Almond and Verba, 1965; Olsen, 1982; Rosenstone and Hansen, 1993; Verba and Nie, 1972). Research shows that the experiences gained through associational involvement influences political activity independently of the effects exerted by social status and political orientations (Lane, 1959; Milbrath and Goel, 1977; Verba and Nie, 1972). Indeed, in some cases, group-based mobilization is more important than social class in enhancing political activity (Rogers et al., 1975; Rosenstone and Hansen, 1993; Verba and Nie, 1972). Research attention to racial differences in affiliation and activism in voluntary associations examines the role of organizational involvement both as a form of social participation and as an independent predictor of political behavior. The first and more familiar focus stresses racial differences in joining and participating in voluntary associations, with some literature reporting less participation in social (Hyman and Wright, 1971; Wright and Hyman, 1958) organizations by Blacks, and other literature indicating that Blacks engage in higher levels of social participation once controls for socioeconomic status and other key demographic factors are taken into consideration (Babchuk and Thompson, 1962; McPherson, 1977; Olsen, 1970; Orum, 1966; Verba and Nie, 1972; Williams et al., 1973). Two competing explanationsthe compensatory and ethnic community perspectives were offered to account for the finding that once controls for socioeconomic status were applied, Blacks exhibited higher rates of social (and political participation) than Whites. Compensatory theory, contending that extensive participation on the part of Blacks was an attempt to compensate for their subordinated status in American society (Babchuk and Thompson, 1962; Drake and Cayton, 1945; Myrdal et al., 1944; Orum, 1966) was the dominant explanation until Lane (1959) first advanced the ethnic community thesis, which interprets exaggerated political and social activism by Blacks as a function of high levels of racial and group consciousness and group norms that require participation in social activities (see also McPherson, 1977; Olsen, 1970; Verba and Nie, 1972; Williams et al., 1973). Tests of these theories suffered from several critical limitations (Ellison and London, 1992). First, poor conceptualization and operationalization of key concepts (e.g., Verba and Nies group consciousness measure) have undermined the usefulness of prior research. Second, studies have used data from samples with small numbers of Black respondents (e.g., Babchuk and Thompson, 1962; Olsen, 1970; Orum, 1966). Third, these findings may no longer be valid because most of the data used in these studies were collected during the 1960s and early 1970s, a period of serious ideological ferment in the Black community (e.g., Guterbock and London, 1983; Shingles, 1981; Verba and Nie, 1972). Finally, and perhaps most importantly, because the compensatory and ethnic community perspectives explain exaggerated levels of Black participation as a reaction to experiences of extreme material hardship and racial subordination, recent improvements

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in the social and economic status of the Black community may render these theories obsolete (Ellison and Gay, 1989). A second and less-familiar focus stresses how racial differences in social participation affect levels of involvement in the political system. What is the relationship between associational involvement and Black political participation? Verba and Nie (1972) and Millers (1982) research sheds light on this question. Verba and Nie provided a benchmark, with their finding that the gap between Blacks and Whites in political participation was reduced by multiple active affiliations with voluntary associations. However, because of the higher proportion of associational activist in the White population, Whites received a greater boost to participation from being involved in organizations. Miller (1982) extended Verba and Nies work by reanalyzing their 1967 data and showing that the type of organization has an important effect on Black political activity. Miller found that multiple-group memberships in organizations characterized by political discussions increased Black political participation to levels higher than identically affiliated Whites. By comparison, Blacks who were (a) not involved in any organization, (b) associated with organizations, but did not discuss politics, or (c) affiliated with organizations that made no attempt to solve community problems had a lower average rate of political participation than did Whites who were similarly situated. As intriguing as the Verba and Nie and Miller findings are, their results may not explain contemporary patterns of sociopolitical behavior. The main problem is that their research may suffer from period effects. During the late 1950s, the organizational infrastructure of the Black community shifted from nonpartisan to partisan organizations, which had a significant effect on Black political life. Blacks became increasingly involved in formal organizations that encouraged purposeful political activity among their members (McAdam, 1982; Morris, 1994). These partisan groups flourished and promoted attitudes and skills among their members that stimulated an increase in Black political participation (Miller, 1982). These developments may explain the high rates of Black sociopolitical activity observed in 1967 by Verba and Nie and Miller, but what should we expect about contemporary racial differences in social and political behavior? This article will attempt to answer this question by using data from the 1987 General Social Survey (GSS) to analyze the relationship between associational involvement and political participation in the post-civil rights era. By separating our respondents into homogeneous racial groups and specifying associational activity by type of organization, we will be able to determine which group joins what organization, and the relevance of such patterns for involvement in the polity.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
What is the nature of the process whereby voluntary associations stimulate individuals external political activity? Most importantly, organizations mobilize their members for participation through several related processes: 1. 2. Association membership broadens ones sphere of interest and concerns, so that public affairs and political issues become more salient to the individual. It brings one into contact with many diverse people and the resulting social

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3. 4.

relationship draw the individual into a wide range of new activities, including politics. It gives one training and experience in social interaction and leadership skills that are valuable in the political sphere. It provides one with multiple channels through which he or she can act to exert influence on politicians and the political system (Olsen, 1982, p. 32).

A major question about the mobilization thesis concerns whether all types of organizations equally serve to promote political involvement. Studies find important differences between voluntary associations in their potential to enhance political activity. Evidence presented by Jacoby (1965) demonstrated that the type of organizational function affected political activities, with instrumental group members being more likely to vote than expressive group members. Londons (1975) analysis of data from four Connecticut central citiesHartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, and Waterburyindicated that membership in instrumental groups correlated more highly with political participation than did membership in expressive groups. Likewise, Rogers and Bultena (1975)see also Rogers et al., 1975 concluded from an analyses of surveys in three Iowa counties that organizational involvement explained much of the variation in political participation, although the relationship was stronger for instrumental than for expressive groups. The instrumental-expressive distinction is one of the most important distinctions among voluntary associations examined in research on political activities. Gordon and Babchuk (1959) were the first to present the rationale for this typology and the criteria used in the classificatory scheme (see also Jacoby and Babchuk, 1963). Instrumental groups tend to focus on objectives that lie outside of the groups themselves. Because it was formed to maintain or change some normative condition in the community or larger society, instrumental groups routinely pursue serious political objectives. Conversely, expressive group activities tend to be confined and self-contained within the organization itself. Because the basic orientation of these groups is directed toward goals that contribute to the organized flow of immediate and continuing gratification, expressive group will routinely avoid politics unless involvement can enhance the value of being affiliated with the group. Because Black organizations differ in the extent to which they emphasize goals or objectives external to the organization (instrumental), or serve the socioemotional needs (expressive) of their members, the instrumental-expressive dimension is of critical importance for the concerns presented here. Early studies found that Blacks were far more likely to belong to expressive rather than instrumental organizations (Babchuk and Thompson, 1962; Drake and Cayton, 1945; Frazier, 1957; Myrdal et al., 1944). The greater participation of Blacks in status-accentuating expressive groups was explained as an effort to make up for being deprived of the usual social and psychological satisfactions of everyday life (Orum, 1966). That expressive associations had greater memberships than instrumental associations may have reflected Black American organizational life before the Civil Rights Movement. A more recent analysis by Woodard (1986) of data collected by telephone interviews (N 321) in a southwest Chicago community revealed that instrumental voluntary associations had greater importance to Black associational life than membership in expressive organizations. He concludes that:

Race, Associational Involvement, and Political Participation Black Americans in the postcivil rights era are more involved with neighborhood development, quality education for their children, their own professional development, and the advancement of the race than with the hedonistic activities of status-accentuating expressive associations, as Blacks were characterized in the pre-Civil Rights era (p. 294).

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This analysis will necessarily update and redirect previous research in that it focuses on racial differences in associational involvement to determine if Black and White organizations differ in their capacity to mobilize their members for political activity. We test several hypotheses about the relationship between organizational involvement and political participation: Hypothesis I states that individuals in instrumental associations will participate in high-initiative activities, such as campaigning and contacting, as well as voting. Hypothesis II states that individuals involved in intermediate groups will participate in low-initiative activities such as voting. Hypothesis III states that individuals active in expressive organizations will participate at levels somewhere in between.

DATA AND METHODS

The research is based on data from a national probability sample of adults. The 1987 GSS included 1222 Whites and 544 Blacks (including a large Black oversample of 353), and a replication of the basic measures of social and political participation that were included in Verba and Nies (1972) classic study. Taking our cue from the vast literature on political participation (e.g., Verba and Nie, 1972), we identified and developed scales for three types of participation: voting (always vote in local elections and voted in the 1980 and 1984 national elections); campaigning (actively worked for a party or candidate; attended a political meeting or rally; persuaded others how to vote; contributed money to a party or candidate); and contacting (contacted a local or nonlocal official about a concern or need). Cronbachs alpha measure of reliability for voting was 0.73; campaigning, 0.61; and contacting, 0.65. We created a summary participation index that included all nine measures; alpha for the summary index was 0.75. The primary independent variable was organizational involvement. In the 1987 GSS, respondents were asked about their levels of involvement in each of 11 associations. Participation is disaggregated into three categories on the basis of their primary function: expressive, instrumental, or intermediate (expressive/instrumental). The three categories are constructed as follows: political clubs, professional and business associations, school service organizations (e.g., PTA) and service organizations are categorized as instrumental. School fraternities and sororities, fraternal clubs, veterans groups, literary clubs, hobby clubs, and sports and athletic clubs are treated as expressive. Because church groups possess characteristics of both types, they will be classified as intermediate. Several variables measure psychological orientations toward politics that mobilize citizens for participation. Political interest is measured by the respondents answer to the following question: How interested are you in politics and national affairs? Are you very interested, somewhat interested, only somewhat interested, or not at all interested? Strength of partisanship has three levels: independents or other party affiliation, weak partisan of either party, or strong partisan of either party. Political knowledge is the total

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of correct answers to three questions asking the name of the respondents state governor, member of Congress, and head of the local school system. Political trust is a summed scale of two items assessing how often respondents think the local and federal governments can be trusted to do what is right (alpha 0.55); high scores mean greater trust. Political efficacy is a summed scale of two items inquiring about the respondents perception of their influence over local government decisions and about the amount of attention they would expect local government officials to pay to their complaints (alpha 0.57); high scores indicate higher efficacy. To examine the organizational effect net other factors, several socioeconomic and demographic factors were included as controls. Socioeconomic status is measured by two variables: years of education and family income (1 under $1,000; 20 60,000). The demographic controls are age (in years), gender (0 male, 1 female), and region (0 non-South, 1 South).

Analysis
The analysis that follows is divided into three parts. The first step is to rank the organizations based on the percentage of the total that belong to each kind of group. Next we estimate the extent of involvement in formal organizations among comparable socioeconomic groups of Blacks and Whites. Third, we adopt Gordon and Babchuks (1959) instrumental expressive classification as a basis for distinguishing between associations to determine whether Black and White organizations vary by type in the level and mode of political participation that active members pursue.

FINDINGS
As might be expected, church groups are the most popular voluntary association among Blacks. As Table 1 indicates, 36% of the respondents report membership in a church

TABLE 1 Ranking of Voluntary Associations by Percentage of Total Membership Association Classification

Church groups Sports and athletic School service (e.g., PTAs) Professional groups Fraternal clubs Service School fraternity/sorority Literary clubs Hobby clubs Veterans groups Political clubs E/I E I I E I E E E E I

Rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Blacks Membership (%)

36 13 10 8 7 6 5 5 4 4 3

Number of Cases
192 71 55 44 38 34 24 24 22 22 17

Note: E Expressive, I Instrumental, E/I Expressive and Instrumental (Intermediate).

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group. Membership in church groups is substantially greater (23 percentage points) than the second-ranked voluntary group. Membership in sports and athletic clubs, school service associations, professional and business groups, and fraternal groups are ranked second to fifth. Service groups, sororities and fraternities, literary clubs, hobby clubs, and veterans groups are ranked sixth to tenth. Political clubs ranked at the bottom and are least popular among Blacks. It is important to note that four of the top six ranked groups are either instrumental or expressive/instrumental associations; these findings do not support previous research that report an exaggerated tendency for Blacks to participate in expressive organizations (for example, Babchuk and Thompson, 1962; Drake and Cayton, 1945; Frazier, 1957; Myrdal et al., 1944). The results shown in Table 2 provide mixed support for previous investigations that report once controls for education and income are taken into consideration, Blacks social activities equal or exceed that of Whites (e.g., Olsen, 1972; Orum, 1966; Williams et al., 1973). As the first row in Table 2 shows, none of the mean differences between Blacks and Whites are very large, but there is a general tendency for Whites to be more likely than Blacks to affiliate with instrumental and expressive organizations. By contrast, the racial distinction in intermediate activity favor Blacks, but the difference is nonsignificant. Table 2 also reports the mean number of memberships for both Blacks and Whites by organizational type with education and income controlled. The general tendency for Black intermediate participation to exceed that of Whites holds true across the various categories of the control variables. However, when we look at the effect of SES on the membership of Blacks and Whites across several of the categories, we find that the overall rates by themselves obscure several important differences between Blacks and Whites. As the table shows, among low- and high-education groups, Blacks are significantly more likely than Whites to belong to an intermediate organization. Likewise, among the low-income group, Black respondents are more likely to be affiliated with an intermediate group than the White respondents.

TABLE 2 The Mean Number of Memberships for both Blacks and Whites by Organizational Type with Education and Income Controlled Intermediate Group Memberships White Black
Overall mean Education 011 years 12 years 13 years college 4 years college Income Under $20,000 $20,000$39,000 $40,000 and over .30 .22 .31 .31 .37 .29 .30 .32 .35 .31* .32 .37 .55* .36* .36 .40

Expressive Group Memberships White Black

.60 .28 .53 .71 .96 .44 .65 .84 .37* .16* .36* .38* 1.02 .28* .55 .64

Instrumental Group Memberships White Black

.44 .09 .29 .52 .99 .25 .48 .69 .28* .07 .19 .28* 1.11 .21 .38 .60

Note: Significant difference between blacks and whites at least at the .05 level.

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The general tendency for White expressive participation to surpass that of Blacks remains constant under these controlled conditions, and many of these differences are statistically significant. Comparing low-education groups, we find that Whites with at least a high school diploma are more likely to belong to an expressive association than equally educated Blacks. With regard to the highly educated, we find that Whites with 13 years of college tend to be more likely to affiliate with an expressive organization, whereas conversely, Blacks with 4 or more years of college are slightly more likely to belong to an expressive group than their White counterparts. By contrast, the findings for the income controls are less clear, with only one difference reaching statistical significance: low-income Whites are more likely to belong to an expressive organization than similarly situated Blacks. Although controlling for socioeconomic status does not alter the general tendency for Whites instrumental involvement to surpass that of Blacks, most of the differences are minimal and do not achieve statistical significance. The evidence here shows that social class plays an important role in structuring membership in instrumental organizations, with most racial differences in participation narrowed to nonsignificance once controls for income and education are taken into consideration. Comparisons of the respondents show that Whites tend to be more likely than Blacks to participate in instrumental organizations, but only among respondents with 13 years of education do these differences reach statistical significance. Table 3 presents the results of the Ordinary Least Squares regression analyses for the summary participation scale, which indicates that among Blacks, expressive and intermediate group involvement is unrelated to overall political activity. On the other hand, as expected, the table shows that instrumental group activity has a significant positive effect on Black political participation. The situation for Whites is somewhat different. The coefficients for activity in instrumental, expressive, and intermediate associations are
TABLE 3 Regression of Summary Participation on Type of Organization, Sociodemographic Variables, and Political Attitudes, by Race (OLS Standardized Coefficients) Model
Instrumental group Expressive group Intermediate Education Family income Age Gender (Female) Region (South) Political knowledge Political interest Political efficacy Political trust Party identification R2 adj.
Note: *p .05. **p .01. ***p .001.

Whites B
.152*** .111*** .047* .149*** .055* .185*** .010 .052* .178*** .277*** .119*** .068** .155*** .501

Blacks B
.172*** .042 .049 .121*** .025 .245*** .002 .022 .258*** .221*** .062 .008 .152*** .482

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consistent with our expectations concerning group involvement and political activity. We should note that whereas many of the other predictor variables are so related in the ways suggested by the political participation literature, only age and political knowledge have a stronger effect on participation among Blacks than among Whites. Even though expressive group and intermediate group involvement did not predict overall participation by Blacks, as measured by the summary index, they might prove relevant for one or more of the indexs constituent elements. As a result, we reran the regression analysis for each of the three subscalesvoting, campaigning, and contactingmaking up the summary index. Table 4 displays the results of the OLS regression analyses for the three modes of participation. A comparison of the independent effects of associational involvement on political participation controlling for sociodemographic status and political orientations confirms our suspicion that substantive differences between types of organizations have consequences for participatory behavior. As expected, both Black and White instrumental actives seem to specialize in the high-initiative modes; they do not vote at unusually high levels. However, it seems that instrumental involvement has a more pronounced effect on campaigning by Whites than by Blacks, whereas there seems to be a slightly stronger tendency for Black instrumental actives to engage in contacting. The effect of expressive and intermediate involvement also differs in interesting ways across the modes of participation for both racial groups. Among both Black and White respondents, intermediate group activity is the only organizational variable related to voting. By comparison, expressive involvement significantly links to campaigning by Whites, but not by Blacks. The final two columns show that intermediate involvement significantly links to contacting by Whites, but not by Blacks, but there seems to be a stronger tendency for Black expressive actives to engage in contacting. Finally, because the sample sizes for Black and White respondents are not the same, it
TABLE 4 Regression of Political Participation on Type of Organization, Sociodemographic Variables, and Political Attitudes, by Race (OLS Standardized Coefficients) Model
Instrumental group Expressive group Intermediate Education Family income Age Gender (Female) Region (South) Political knowledge Poltical interest Political efficacy Political trust Party identification R2 adj.

Voting Whites Blacks

.002 .039 .090*** .125*** .091*** .351*** .207 .075** .225*** .164*** .061* .000 .154*** .397 .067 .057 .090* .091 .098* .376*** .065 .066 .216*** .166*** .023 .000 .223*** .435

Campaigning Whites Blacks

.192*** .101*** .026 .137*** .007 .010 .025 .009 .097*** .223*** .102*** .055* .183*** .346 .166*** .042 .011 .150** .015 .020 .068 .028 .217*** .209*** .071 .015 .088* .312

Contacting Whites Blacks

.173*** .132*** .059* .072* .028 .054 .030 .039 .079** .279*** .120*** .125*** .022 .312 .182*** .167*** .028 .203*** .000 .144*** .013 .008 .131** .102* .047 .050 .31 .253

Note: *p .05. **p .01. ***p .001.

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is difficult to determine if the coefficients are significantly different. Therefore, we ran t tests for all the organizational variables that were significant for at least one of the racial groups. Our results indicate that the coefficients for instrumental, expressive, and intermediate organizations are not significantly different between the two groups.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The present study provides mixed support for the claims advanced by analysts in the 1970s and 1980s, that Blacks social activity equaled or surpassed that of Whites once socioeconomic and other background variables were considered. On the one hand, we find that under controlled conditions, there is a general tendency for Whites to participate more than Blacks in instrumental and expressive organizations, and in the latter case, that many of these differences are statistically significant. On the other hand, Blacks are generally more involved than Whites of comparable socioeconomic status in intermediate organizations, and that several of these difference are significant. Why are contemporary patterns of Black associational behavior generally inconsistent with those predicted by other analysts (Babchuk and Thompson, 1962; Olsen, 1970Orum, 1966; McPherson, 1977; Williams et al., 1973)? Although the degree of Black progress must be kept in perspective (Massey and Denton, 1993; Pinkney, 1984), recent changes in the social and economic circumstances of Blacks raises doubt about the usefulness of theories that explain heightened levels of organizational involvement as efforts to overcome the effects of White racism and the general lack of power and prestige Blacks experience in American society. Most importantly, with many of the issues that animated the Civil Rights movement largely resolved, particular strategies and orientations that were once necessary may no longer be appropriate for responding to less obvious forms of institutional racism and class subordination. We also predicted that Black organizations would differ in their capacities to stimulate external political activities. We expected that activity in goal-oriented, instrumental settings would mobilize individuals for more demanding modes: campaigning and contacting, as well as voting. Although involvement in instrumental organizations did not influence voting, as predicted, instrumental activity was a significant predictor of campaigning and contacting for our Black respondents. How do we explain these findings? Because instrumental groups routinely pursue goals and objectives that lie outside of the organization itself, it seems that instrumental actives are exposed to political stimuli that encouraged members to engage in high-initiative rather than low-initiative political activities. As expected, Blacks involved in intermediate organizations specialized in low-initiative activities; Blacks participating in intermediate groups were the only organizational actives to demonstrate a greater likelihood to vote. This finding probably reflects the role of church officials as political leaders and the efforts made by Black churches to register new voters and increase Black voter turnout during the early 1980s in response to the political climate created by the Reagan administration and Jesse Jacksons first presidential campaign. By contrast, we predicted that involvement in organizational settings constrained by the need to meet the social and psychological needs of its members would mobilize individuals for participation only when involvement could enhance the value of

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being affiliated. Consistent with our expectations, expressive group involvement was only related to contacting. The effect of associational involvement also differed in interesting ways across the modes of participation for both racial groups. On the one hand, there seems to be a stronger tendency for White instrumental and expressive actives to engage in campaigning. On the other hand, expressive and instrumental involvement has a more pronounced effect on contacting by Blacks than Whites. But meanwhile, Whites receive about the same boost to participation from intermediate activity as Blacks. How do we explain these findings? First, because they have more resourcesmoney, leisure time, and skills Whites are more likely than Blacks to be able to meet the demands that campaign activism places on them. Second, whereas Black churches have historically engaged in voter mobilization, White Fundamentalist Protestant churches leveled the playing field by mobilizing Whites to vote on behalf of conservative causes throughout the 1980s. Third, it is unclear why Black expressive and instrumental actives were more likely to engage in contacting. Finally, these data raise an important question about the possibility of equalizing participation by increasing Black social participation. Can increasing Black associational involvement help reduce the difference in political participation between Blacks and Whites that is associated with social class? There is scant evidence that it may. Research shows that although organizational involvement tends to boost the political participation of individuals at all levels of the status hierarchy, lower-status individuals get a greater boost than upper-status individuals (Nie et al., 1988; Verba and Nie, 1972). That organizational membership promotes political activism regardless of ones socioeconomic level suggests that it may be an important tool for closing the racial gap in political participation being created by status differences. However, the social correlates of joining and participating raise doubts about the viability of this conclusion. Studies show that social position influences ones decision to join voluntary associations (Verba and Nie, 1972; Verba et al., 1995). For example, Woodard (1986) found that socioeconomic status had a positive effect on memberships for Black Americans (see also Olsen, 1970; Orum, 1966), with education being the most effective determinant across associations. Moreover, research shows that the wealthy and well-educated are more likely to be targeted for mobilization than the poor and less educated (Rosenstone and Hansen, 1993).

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