Participation and Movement Orientation: Foundations of a Theory of Change in Voluntary Associations

Abstract

This thesis investigates the relationship between the orientation of participants to voluntary associations and the orientation of associations to the wider society. By combining theoretical work from the field of voluntary associations with a theory of collective behaviour, a set of hypotheses is generated to analyze changes that have occurred it the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, a Canadian patriotic organization for women. A typology of voluntary associations is constructed, and a brief review of secondary sources shows the applicability of our theory to a wide range of voluntary social movements. The data used for this study includes association files, minutes, magazines and newspaper reports.