Elisabeth S. Clemens and Doug Guthrie, eds.: Politics and Partnerships: The Role of Voluntary Associations in America’s Political Past and Present

Abstract

Reviews the book, Politics and Partnerships: The Role of Voluntary Associations in America’s Political Past and Present edited by Elisabeth S. Clemens and Doug Guthrie (2011). Voluntary associations play a vital, although sometimes not very visible role in American society as engines of innovation in political and civic life. Associations create much of the fabric that weaves social life together, whether through generating social capital by linking people to others in their community or by constructing identities around which people organize and find meaning. The editors of this volume, Elisabeth Clemens and Doug Guthrie, have gathered a diverse and interdisciplinary set of scholarly voices to provide a rich overview of the organized nature of American voluntarism. The contributors emphasize that voluntary associations have historically been central players in the U.S. business and political worlds, and although the nature of voluntary associations has changed in recent years, their centrality has not waned. A number of chapters in the volume primarily focus on the mediating roles of associations and of their potential for linking different societal domains and spurring institutional change. The perhaps surprising message for organizational scholars is that the health of the other organizational fields that dominate our attention—like the corporate world or entrepreneurial organizations—also depends on a strong set of voluntary associations, inasmuch as associations provide new templates for organizing and create intimate community links. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)