Associations and the Exercise of Democratic ... - Citizenship DRC

IDS WORKING PAPER 285Research on the micro-political impact of associations on democracy makes avariety of distinctions between types associations, but only one is relevant here. 24For both analytic and empirical reasons, the nature of the relationship betweenindividuals and associations – formal membership or active participation – isimportant. Formal membership is only one of various types of relations people mayhave to an association that can impact citizenship. Here, the associational effectson citizenship are believed to accrue from face-to-face interaction and othersocial network effects that make possible the acquisition of civic skills, values, andinformation, rather than membership status (Putnam 2000: 58; Skocpol 1999:498–504). However, the convention in survey research conducted in affluentwestern democracies, and transported to other contexts, has been to use formalmembership as a proxy for associational activity. In analytic terms, a person whoperiodically is active in a civil society association, but is not a member of thatassociation, is more likely to acquire the skills, information and social networkbenefits that come from associational practices than the individual who has formalmembership but only makes an annual financial contribution to an organisation.Counting people whose sole membership activity is making financial contributionsas being associational active is to ignore the core elements of associational activitythat theorists suggest make it an important component of democracy.Furthermore, empirically, associations in São Paulo and Mexico City are more likelyto define such relations in terms of a ‘community’ rather than individual members(Gurza Lavalle et al. 2005a: 954). 25For these reasons, instead of using membership in associations, we use a simple setof dichotomous variables for participation in the activities of associations. 26 Thiscasts a wider net that fits empirical realities of the region in which the survey wasconducted and captures the core analytic dimensions of participation in theliterature. There is one exception: we use formal membership in the case ofworkplace organisations such as trade unions and professional associations.Most survey research in Latin America asks respondents about their currentmembership in associations, or fails to specify the time period. We use a five yeartime window. If an individual has participated in the activities of association in thefive years prior to the interview, (s)he is likely to still possess many, if not all, of thebenefits that may accrue from participation – information, knowledge, skills, etc.24 Distinctions include those between internally democratic and autocratic associations(Putnam 1993; Cohen and Rogers 1995), purposefully political and non-political (Skocpol1999; Diamond 1999), and formalised forms of bonding or bridging social capital (Putnam2000; Hill and Matsubayashi 2005). For an overview, see Fung (2003).25 The same appears to be true in Delhi, India (Harriss 2005). In the particular case ofparticipation in religious groups, the standard question – ‘are you a member of a religiousgroup' – is inadequate for predominantly Catholic countries. Such phrasing is contextspecific to countries where Protestant churches are most common. The Catholic Church isorganised in a way, and around a set of beliefs, that leaves the notion of ‘membership’without cultural resonance and as a result, active participation in religious groups will beunderreported.26 Studies most often ask a closed question on current membership in a range of associationswhich are listed one by one. This approach is thought to provide higher response rates thanopen questions that are later coded. Cf. IBGE (1988 and 1996), SEADE (1998).22