One of the thought worthy phenomenon in the American society is voluntary association. "The term voluntary association, ie , a private, member ship –based organization in which membership is non-compulsory". (H K Anheier, Socialogy of volunteer association).
Historically, one of the biggest early examples is "broad postal system in 1830s"(questia.com). The first burst of voluntary work was "before the civil war, 1820s to 1830s", mostly on morality and slavery. The next was after the civil the war, 1870s well into the 20th century as responses to industrialism and economic crisis. (questia.com)What's interesting is that about four fifth of the extensive associations ever found still exist today. (Ibid)
"Classical sociological thought saw voluntary associations as an indicator of social evolution in the development of undifferentiated to differentiated societies"(A K Anheier).
Modern thought on this issue began with De Tocqueville's "democracy in America". In modern democratic societies voluntary associations have tow functions: first, bring diverse back grounds on a common purpose and second, building a sphere between political center of power and the electorate, avoiding the tyranny of the majority(Ibid).
Mellissa Miller in her paper, "How local, translocal and national voluntary organizations promote democracy" indicates that "scholars since Tocqueville had argued that voluntary groups taught American the 'art of association' in ways that benefited democracy". She uses the American citizen participation study (p5) to bring some interesting statistics on the issue. Accordingly women in local scale make higher and in national scale an equal percentage to men in voluntary associations. Whites considerably higher than non-whites as the former 84% in local and national scales and the latter occupy just 16%. Apart from statistics, voluntary works are well-known, familiar and effective in American society. This might be a result of American individualism which makes a culture of non-dependence on government in solving all the problems. Although, whatever the reasons and roots, voluntary work seems a good and admired trend both as a help and critic to the government.
Considering our Islamic teachings and the cultural background in Iran, voluntary works and associations can be extremely effective and helpful. But why these voluntary associations do not exist in Iran. Is it some burucratic system that makes everything hard? Or is it lack of self confidence in overall public who don't feel able to make any change individually?
Studying the pros and cons of these associations, it seems worth to undergo a deep study and let volunteers to do their contributions on public good like religion, culture, environment, education and etc.
Historically, one of the biggest early examples is "broad postal system in 1830s"(questia.com). The first burst of voluntary work was "before the civil war, 1820s to 1830s", mostly on morality and slavery. The next was after the civil the war, 1870s well into the 20th century as responses to industrialism and economic crisis. (questia.com)What's interesting is that about four fifth of the extensive associations ever found still exist today. (Ibid)
"Classical sociological thought saw voluntary associations as an indicator of social evolution in the development of undifferentiated to differentiated societies"(A K Anheier).
Modern thought on this issue began with De Tocqueville's "democracy in America". In modern democratic societies voluntary associations have tow functions: first, bring diverse back grounds on a common purpose and second, building a sphere between political center of power and the electorate, avoiding the tyranny of the majority(Ibid).
Mellissa Miller in her paper, "How local, translocal and national voluntary organizations promote democracy" indicates that "scholars since Tocqueville had argued that voluntary groups taught American the 'art of association' in ways that benefited democracy". She uses the American citizen participation study (p5) to bring some interesting statistics on the issue. Accordingly women in local scale make higher and in national scale an equal percentage to men in voluntary associations. Whites considerably higher than non-whites as the former 84% in local and national scales and the latter occupy just 16%. Apart from statistics, voluntary works are well-known, familiar and effective in American society. This might be a result of American individualism which makes a culture of non-dependence on government in solving all the problems. Although, whatever the reasons and roots, voluntary work seems a good and admired trend both as a help and critic to the government.
Considering our Islamic teachings and the cultural background in Iran, voluntary works and associations can be extremely effective and helpful. But why these voluntary associations do not exist in Iran. Is it some burucratic system that makes everything hard? Or is it lack of self confidence in overall public who don't feel able to make any change individually?
Studying the pros and cons of these associations, it seems worth to undergo a deep study and let volunteers to do their contributions on public good like religion, culture, environment, education and etc.
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