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  • Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life
  • Sarah Sobieraj
Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life. By Theda Skocpol. University of Oklahoma Press, 2003. 366 pp. Paper, $24.95.

Drawing on an extensive qualitative and quantitative data archive compiled as part of the Civic Engagement Project at Harvard, Diminished Democracy offers a provocative reassessment of the origin and development of large membership associations in the United States (those that have enrolled at least 1 percent of the adult population).

The findings challenge several circulating notions about early American civic life. First, Skocpol makes a compelling case that these large membership associations were not the product of robust, spontaneous local activity. On the contrary, she finds that most of the 58 organizations in her sample emerged in a top-down fashion as supra-local civic organizers aggressively recruited and trained leaders, establishing groups in communities in a way that mirrored the federated structure of the United States government. This historical insight presses academics and politicians alike to relinquish nostalgia for an idealized mythical past in which civil society was small, community-based, and organic.

Skocpol challenges a second assumption, popular with conservatives, in which the perceived decline of civil society is attributed to the development of social programs that eliminated the space for such membership organizations. Skocpol argues that these associations flourished in large part because of their relationship with the state, not because they were sheltered from its auspices. For example, she argues that associations thrived in conjunction with the development of the postal service, the removal of state sponsorship of religion, and the evolution of government partnerships during times of war.

In addition, Skocpol provides ample evidence in the form of illustrative examples (e.g., the case of the American Legion's involvement in the passage of the G.I. Bill) that these associations were never merely apolitical clubs for social activity and charity work. Instead, she describes the integral role that large membership associations played in the development of social programs providing aid to farmers, mothers and children, and veterans.

In addition to offering important insights into the history of large membership organizations, Skocpol offers a careful analysis of the relationship between institutional arrangements and civic life, asking not (only) how many people are joining associations, but rather how associations have changed and what the [End Page 1763] implications of these changes are for democracy. She contends that the trans-local federated membership associations of the past were spaces in which members could socialize and develop recurrent ties to others, across class lines, if not across boundaries of race and gender; develop citizenship skills, such as voting and participating in public discourse; articulate shared values; and influence elected officials, through interactions with powerful leaders and organizing in chapters that often mirrored legislative districts. For Skocpol, the very structure of these associations reinforces external political activity, enhancing member involvement in the political process. The image she creates is one of involved members developing relationships and civic skills that connect them to community and political life.

Skocpol argues that the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s gave birth to a civic world dominated by professionally managed advocacy groups (rather than membership groups) and nonprofit service providers, and, to a lesser degree, PACs, foundations, and think tanks. The common denominator of these groups is the absence of active, engaged members. Here, Skocpol challenges an assumption of the left, arguing that the explosion of rights-based advocacy organizations has weakened, rather than strengthened democracy by crowding out meaningful participation in favor of professionally administered organizations whose members pay dues in exchange for representation in the political process. While the number of associations has grown dramatically since the 1960s, Skocpol maintains that these specialized organizations are narrow and instrumental rather than broad and expressive.

While Skocpol corrects our revisionist understanding of large membership associations and artfully describes the role that social structures have played in their decline, there are components of the book that are less compelling. Skocpol uses an impressive data archive to bring the classic associations to life, but the image of the contemporary associational arena is less thoroughly documented. The portrait...

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