By focusing on membership in voluntary associations in general, the question of
whether correlates of affiliation vary by organizational type tends to have been
neglected. This is a significant omission from the standpoint of describing the
characteristics of "joiners." Additionally, most of what we know about the reasons
for belonging has been inferred from observations of who joins. In this study, nine
frequently identified correlates of voluntary association membership were examined
in relation to five different types of organizations. Only two, education and race,
were found to be related to all types. Thus, results indicate that affiliation is not a
unidimensional process and memberships in different types of associations are not
interchangeable.
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