Lets know the Associations in Society In our day to day life , we come across a number of associations like trader’s association and urban development association etc. but we hardly pay any attention to what an association is? In anthropology, association represents a group created for fulfillment of common needs.
Human beings can fulfill their needs through three ways. One, independently; second, through conflict with one another and third, on co-operative basis i.e. in company. This co-operative pursuit may be determined by customs of the community. So when a group organises itself especially for the purpose of pursuing certain interests, an association is born.
As MacIver and Page (1952: 209) says that “an association is an organisation deliberately formed for the collective pursuit of same interest or set of interests, which its members share.” This definition clearly indicates the nature of association, its structure and functions.
Hence, it can be said that an association is a group of people organised for a particular purpose. It implies that there are certain conditions to constitute an association:
- Firstly, there must be a group of people;
- Secondly, the group of people should be organised i.e. there must be certain rules for conduct;
- Thirdly, there must be common purpose of the specific nature to follow.
Since, men have several interests and several purposes to pursue; they establish many associations to fulfill them. For example: political associations to serve the political motives, student associations in society to give out student welfare, professional associations like ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) to serve the interests of concerned people and international associations like Rotary Club, Y.M.C.A. (Young Men’s Christian Association) etc.
As Associations in Society moves towards complexity, needs of the human beings also become diversified and this finally lead to more and more number of associations. In contemporary times, associations perform more than their conventional functions. Now people use associations to discharge their social obligations. Society is considered as a combination of associations and healthy associations represents a healthy society.
Characteristics of association in Society
Association in Society requires at least two individuals. It is considered as a concrete form of group.
- Association has its own aims and objectives. No association can be formed without any aim. Aim can be broad or particular.
- Association is always a result of deliberate action. Like communities, they do not grow spontaneously. They are deliberately created by men in order to fulfill certain aims.
- In an association, membership remains voluntary. Members can join the association or establish an association as per their needs.
- There are certain rules to get membership of an association. Every association in Society establishes on the ground of certain rules and regulations. It also contains code of conduct for the members. On any contradictory action or disobeying the regulations, a member may be expelled from the membership.
- Associations are subjected to be terminated. The life of an association is upto the achievement of the aim for which it has been created. The existence of the association after the achievement of the objectives becomes meaningless and immaterial.
In simple societies, where there is less division of labour, there are a few associations and they are more inclusive. Thus, they lack specific limited functional character. They take such forms as age groups, kin groups and sex-groups etc. while in modern societies; associations are tend to be specialised so that each stands for a particular type of interest.
So we see that associations are formed to achieve certain general goals and in order to attain these goals, certain rules and regulations are developed. Formation of an association in society can be understood from the following example: In a society, everybody needs a house to live. It is everybody’s aim but can we achieve it by our own exclusive efforts and resources? The answer is ‘No’ and for that purpose Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) was established. Associations are formed in this manner only. As needs increased, people kept on making associations to meet those needs. Hence, we can say that associations in society are those functional units of society through which a man fulfills his basic social needs. They are deliberately formed in order to attain certain purposes.
Ember and Ember notes for extra knowledge.
Characteristics of Associations
As this Hopi fable must have taught the people who grew up hearing it, sometimes a common purpose is better achieved by joining forces with someone who at first is unfamiliar to you. Indeed, not only are the frog and the locust unrelated, but the frog is also the locust’s natural predator. As you now know, human societies everywhere organize themselves into groups at least by families and often by larger kin groups. And most societies have at least some territorial groups such as bands, hamlets, or villages. But humans also form nonkin and nonterritorial groups, which anthropologists call associations. In this chapter, we will explore some types of associations found in many societies, the characteristics such groups have in common, and why they might have been formed.
Associations in Society are a variety of nonkin and nonterritorial groups that have several common characteristics: (1) some kind of formal, institutionalized structure; (2) the exclusion of some people; (3) members with common interests or purposes; and (4) members with
a discernible sense of pride and feeling of belonging. Societies differ considerably in the degree to which they have such associations and in what kind they have. In the United States just about all associations are voluntary—that is, people can choose to join or not join. But in many societies—particularly more egalitarian ones—membership is generally nonvoluntary: All people of a particular category must belong. Implicit in the rituals and rules of such associations is a means of maintaining the social order and smooth functioning of the group. Anthropologists generally distinguish between associations and interest groups (to use the terminology of political science). Membership in interest groups is voluntary. Although interest groups may display the general characteristics of associations in society , they vary considerably in social significance, as well as size. Contemporary society in the United States has an abundance of interest groups, for example, ranging from such national organizations as the Democratic and Republican parties to more local organizations such as college sororities and fraternities.
In addition to whether an association in society is voluntary or not, another dimension of variation is what qualifies a person for membership. There are two possible kinds of qualifications: those that are achieved and those that are ascribed. Achieved qualities are those that people acquire during their lifetime, such as superior skills in a sport or the skills required to be an electrician. Ascribed qualities are those that are determined for people at birth, either by sex or because of family background (ethnicity, place of birth, religion, social class). We speak of
two kinds of ascribed qualities or characteristics: universally ascribed qualities, those that are found in all societies, such as age and sex; and variably ascribed qualities, those that are found only in some societies, such as ethnic, religious, or social class differences. Some
associations in society do not fit so neatly—for example, the criteria that qualify someone for Girl Scout membership include an interest in joining, which is an achieved quality, as well as biological sex, which is an ascribed characteristic.
Nonvoluntary Associations in Society
Although complex societies may have nonvoluntary associations, such associations are more characteristic of relatively unstratified or egalitarian societies. In relatively unstratified societies, associations tend to be based on the universally ascribed characteristics of age and sex. Such associations take two forms: age-sets and male or female (unisex) associations.
Age-Sets
All societies use a vocabulary of age terms, just as they use a vocabulary of kinship terms. For instance, as we distinguish among brother, uncle, and cousin, we also differentiate among infant, adolescent, and adult. Age terms refer to categories based on age, or age-grades. An age-grade is simply a category of people who happen to fall within a particular culturally distinguished age range. Age-set, on the other hand, is the term for a group of people of similar age and the same sex who move through some or all of life’s stages together. For example, all the boys of a certain age range in a particular district might simultaneously become ceremonially initiated into “manhood.” Later in life, the group as a whole might become “elders,” and still later “retired elders.” Entry into an age-set system is generally nonvoluntary and is based on the universally ascribed characteristics of sex and age. Kinship forms the basis of the organization and administration of most noncommercial societies. In some noncommercial societies, however, age-sets crosscut kinship ties and form strong supplementary bonds. Two such societies are the Karimojong of East Africa and the Shavante of Brazil.
Karimojong Age-Sets : The Karimojong number some 60,000 people. Predominantly cattle herders, they occupy about 4,000 acres of semiarid country in northeastern Uganda. Their society is especially interesting because of its organization into combinations of age-sets and generation-sets. These groupings provide the political authority for the society and determine how that authority is exercised. A Karimojong age-set comprises all the men who have been initiated into manhood within a span of about five to six years. A generation-set consists of a combination of five such age-sets, covering 25 to 30 years. Each generation-set is seen as “begetting” the one that immediately follows it, and two generation-sets are in existence at any one time. The senior unit—whose members perform the administrative, judicial, and priestly functions—is closed; the junior unit, whose members serve as warriors and police, continues to recruit. When all five age-sets in the junior generation-set are established, that generation-set will be ready—actually impatient—to assume the status of its senior predecessor. Eventually, grumbling but realistic, the elders agree to a succession ceremony, moving those who were once in a position of obedience to a position of authority. Once initiated, a boy has become a man, one with a clearly defined status and the ultimate certainty of exercising full authority together with his age-set partners. Indeed, a Karimojong is not expected to marry—and is barred from starting a family—until he has been initiated. The initiation ceremony itself illustrates the essential political and social characteristics of the age-set system. Without the authority of the elders, the ceremony cannot be held; throughout the proceedings, their authority is explicit. The father-son relationship of adjacent generation-sets is emphasized, for fathers are initiating their sons.
The Karimojong age system, then, comprises a cyclical succession of four generation-sets in a predetermined continuing relationship. The retired generation-set consists of elders who have passed on the mantle of authority because most of the five age sets within the retired generation-set are depleted, if not defunct. The senior generation-set contains the five age-sets that actively exercise authority. The junior generation-set is still recruiting members and, although obedient to elders, has some administrative powers. The noninitiates are starting a generation-set.
Shavante Age-Sets : The Shavante inhabit the Mato Grosso region of Brazil. As recently as the mid-20th century, the 2,000 or so Shavante were hostile to Brazilians of European ancestry who tried to move into their territory. Although they practice some agriculture, the Shavante rely primarily on food collection. Wild roots, nuts, and fruits are their staple foods, and hunting is their passion. The Shavante have villages, but they rarely stay in them for more than a few weeks at a time. Instead, they make frequent community treks lasting 6 to 24 weeks to hunt or collect. They spend no more than four weeks a year at their gardens, which are located at least a day’s journey from the villages.
Age-sets are a particularly important part of the lives of Shavante males. Boys emerge from the status of childhood when they are formally inducted into a named age-set and take up residence in the “bachelor hut.” An induction ceremony takes place every five years, and boys from 7 to 12 years of age are inducted at the same time. The five-year period of residence in the bachelor hut is relatively free of responsibility. The boys’ families provide food for them, and they go out hunting and collecting when they feel like it. But during their residence, the boys are instructed in hunting, weapon making, and ceremonial skills. At the end of the five years, an elaborate series of initiation ceremonies marks the boys’ entry into the status of “young men.” The day they emerge from the bachelor hut for the last time, during the final rites of initiation, the entire age-set is married, each to a young girl, usually not yet mature, chosen by the boys’ parents. Marriages are not consummated until the girls have matured. When the ceremonies are over, the young men make war clubs, for they are now considered warriors of the community, and they earn the privilege of sitting in the evening village council. But they have no authority at this stage and few responsibilities.
The next stage is that of the “mature men.” When an age-set is inducted into this stage, the members begin to experience some authority. Important community decisions are made in the mature men’s council. The “mature man” status actually consists of five consecutive age-sets, because new age-sets are formed every five years and each one continues in existence until the death of its members. Among the mature men, the oldest sets are considered senior to the younger ones. Members of the most junior mature men’s age-set rarely talk in the council; they assert themselves more as they progress in the system. In contrast to the Karimojong, who have age-sets just for males, the Shavante also have them for females. Shavante girls are inducted into an age-set when boys about their age enter the bachelor hut, but they belong to the age-set in name only. They do not participate in the bachelor hut, nor do they have their own equivalent; they are not initiated; and they cannot participate in the village council, which makes community decisions. About the only thing the ageset gives girls is occasional participation with males in a few ceremonies. For Shavante women, then, the age-set system does not function as an association.
How Do Male Age-sets and Separate Dwellings
Affect the Status of Women?
Cross-cultural research suggests that male age-sets lower the status of women, particularly when they include segregated “male” huts and male councils, as they do among the Shavante. Daphne Spain, who conducted a study of 81 nonindustrial societies included in the Human Relations Area Files database, concluded that the physical separation of men and women, as well as taboos against women’s participation in councils and initiation rites, deprived women of cultural knowledge and thus power. Do women have more power in cultures with age-sets that do not segregate the sexes? The answer appears to be ambiguous. Suzanne Epple, who studied the Bashada of Southern Ethiopia, determined that women were identified with their husband’s age-sets. The age-sets became part of their social network, as did their kin by marriage. Women and their offspring “belonged” to their husband’s age-set groups, but belonging brought with it obligations of loyalty to the members of the age-set and strict rules of behavior with few privileges and harsh punishment for perceived slights.
Unisex Associations
Unisex, as used here, has quite a different meaning from its current connotation in contemporary North America, where it signifies something that is suitable for both sexes. We use unisex association to describe a type of association that restricts its membership to one sex, usually male. Sex as a qualification is directly related to the purpose of the unisex association. In many male unisex associations, this purpose is to strengthen the concept of male superiority and to offer men a refuge from females. In noncommercial societies, men’s associations association in society are similar to age-sets, except that there are only two sets, or stages— mature males, who are association members, and immature males, who are nonmembers.
Like societies with age-sets, societies with male unisex associations in society are very likely to have traumatic and dramatic male ceremonies initiating males into the group of “mature men.” In most noncommercial societies, women have few associations, perhaps because the men in such societies are dominant in the kinship, property, and political spheres of life. (There is also the possibility that ethnographers, most of whom were men, have given women’s associations less attention than men’s associations.) In some partly commercialized economies, such as in West Africa, women’s associations are more common. Unisex associations or clubs are also a feature of very industrialized societies. The Boy Scouts and the Kiwanis, the Girl Scouts and the League of Women Voters, are cases in point. Joining these clubs, however, is voluntary; in noncommercial and less complex societies, embership is more often nonvoluntary.
Mae Enga Bachelor Associations : The Mae Enga are a subgroup of sedentary horticulturalists living in the New Guinea highlands. Anthropologists have paid a great deal of attention to their society because of its practice of sexual segregation—indeed, the strain of active hostility toward women that runs through its culture. It is the custom for Mae men to live in a separate, communal house. Up to the age of 5, a young boy is permitted to live in his mother’s house, although he is unconsciously aware of the “distance” between his father and mother. As he grows older, his father and elder clansmen make the distance explicit. It is undesirable, he is told, to be so much in the company of women; it is better that he join the menfolk in their house and in their activities. As the boy grows up, the need to avoid contact with women is made abundantly clear to him. He is told that contact with menstrual blood or menstruating women, if not countered by magic rites, can “pollute” a man. It can “corrupt his vital juices so that his skin darkens and wrinkles and his flesh wastes, permanently dull his wits, and eventually lead to a slow decline and death.” Because Mae culture regards a woman as potentially unclean, to say the least, it enforces strict codes of male-female behavior. These codes are designed to safeguard male integrity, strength, and possession of crops and other property. So strict are these regulations that many young men are reluctant to marry. But the elders do try to impress upon the young men their duty to marry and reproduce. The men’s association attempts to regulate the males’ sexual relationships. The association is said to have several purposes: to cleanse and strengthen its members; to promote their growth; to make them attractive to women; and, most important, to supervise contact between the sexes so that ultimately the “right” wives are procured for the men and the “right” children are born into the clan.
By the time males are 15 or 16 years old, Mae youths have joined the village bachelors’ association. They agree to take scrupulous care neither to copulate with a woman nor to accept food from a woman’s hands. As club members, they will participate in the sanggai rituals. Bachelors, under the supervision of senior club members, go into seclusion, in a clubhouse deep in the forest, to undergo “purification.” During four days of “exercises,” which are similar in purpose to those of a religious retreat, each youth observes additional prohibitions to protect himself from all forms of sexuality and impurity. For instance, he is denied pork (women have cared for the pigs), and he may not look at the ground during excursions into the forest, lest he see feminine footprints or pig feces. His body will be scrubbed and his dreams discussed and interpreted. Finally, together with the club, now restored to purity and protected at least for a while against contamination, he will participate in organized dances and feasting with his chosen female partner.
The sanggai festivals afford the entire clan an opportunity to display its size, solidarity, and magnificence to its enemies, whom on other occasions it fights. Hostility toward women may not be surprising in view of the fact that a man’s wife and mother come from neighboring clans (the Mae clan villages are exogamous) perpetually in conflict with his own. Male-female hostility, then, seems to reflect the broader interclan hostility. The Mae have a succinct way of describing the situation: “We marry the people we fight.” Men’s houses, and occasionally women’s, are found among many peoples, especially in Melanesia, Polynesia, Africa, and South America. Men’s associations generally involve bachelors, although older married men will often come by to instruct the youngsters and pass on the benefits of their experience. In more militant days, men’s houses acted as fortresses and arsenals, even as sanctuaries for fugitives. By and large, they serve to strengthen, certainly to symbolize, male power and solidarity. As do age-sets, men’s clubs often provide ties that cut across and supplement kinship bonds. Hence, they permit a given group of men in a given society to act together to realize mutually agreed upon objectives, irrespective of kin relationships.
Poro and Sande All associations usually have some secrecy, as in social life in general. In the examples we have discussed, many of the details of male initiation ceremonies usually are kept secret. But more secrecy seems to be required in the Poro and Sande associations of West Africa. The Poro and Sande associations exist in several cultural groups that speak Mande languages and are located in what is now Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and Guinea.
In Guinea, the Poro and the Sande have been declared illegal, but in the other countries, they are not only legal, they are an integral part of local political structure. Membership in them is public and nonvoluntary; all men in the community must belong to the Poro, and all women must belong to the Sande. Where the Poro and the Sande associations in societyare legal, the community has two political structures—the “secular” and the “sacred.” The secular structure consists of the town chief, neighborhood and kin group headmen, and elders. The sacred structure, or Zo, consists of the hierarchies of “priests” in the Poro and Sande associations. Among the Kpelle of Liberia, for example, the Poro and Sande Zo take turns in assuming responsibility for dealing with in-town fighting, murder, rape, incest, and disputes over land.
In what sense are the Poro and Sande secret? If all adults belong to them, their membership and what they do can hardly be described as secret. Furthermore, anthropologists have not only written about these associations; some have even joined them. Beryl Bellman, who joined the Poro of the Kpelle, suggested that what is “secret” about these associations is the necessity for members to learn to keep secrets, particularly about how people are initiated into membership. Only when people learn to keep secrets are they considered trustworthy for participation in political life.
The Poro leadership establishes the place where the initiates will undergo scarification and live in seclusion for about a year (formerly it was three or four years). The boys are taken out of town, where they engage in a mock battle with a ngamu (a member of the Poro masquerading as a forest devil), who incises marks on their necks, chests, and backs. These marks symbolize being killed and eaten by the devil, but then the initiates are “reborn.” In the initiation “village” outside of town, the boys learn crafts, hunting, and the use of basic medicines. The children of the Zo are given special instruction so that they can take over the rituals from their fathers. Some are trained to perform as “devils.” At the end of the year, the initiates are given Poro names, by which they will be known from then on. Secrecy is attached to events surrounding the initiates; everyone knows that the boys are not killed and eaten by the devil, but only some can speak of it. For example, women must say that the boys are in the devil’s stomach; if they say otherwise, they might be killed in punishment. The initiation of females into the Sande (every seven years or so) also involves taking the initiates into the forest for a year (formerly three years). The girls not only undergo scarification, they also undergo a clitoridectomy, that is, the removal of the clitoris. Like the boys, the girls receive training in adult activities. In the years just before and during the Sande initiation, the women are responsible for the moral behavior of the community. People who commit crimes are first brought before the women. If a man is the accused, he is tried by the Poro Zo, but a portion of any fine is given to the women. The Poro and Sande Zo are held in great respect, and the devils are viewed with fear and awe for the powers they possess. Some authors suggest that fear of the Poro and the Sande strengthens the hands of secular political authority because chiefs and landowners occupy the most powerful positions in the associations.
Secret associations are common in many areas of the world—the Pacific, North and South America, as well as various parts of Africa—although they may be voluntary organizations in some places. In Africa, according to a recent cross-cultural study, secret associations are usually involved in political activities, as are the Poro and Sande. These activities punish people who, according to the secret society, have committed some wrongs. The fact that the punished people almost never seem to be members of the native elite or foreign rulers supports an observation about the Poro and Sande: They typically strengthen the hand of existing political authority jaw Women’s Associations Among the Ijaw of southern Nigeria, only women in the northern part of this society are organized into associations. In one northern Ijaw village, there are seven women’s associations. Once a married woman shows herself capable of supporting a household independent of her mother-in-law, which she does by engaging in marketing and trading, she has to belong to the women’s association linked to her husband’s patrilineage. Membership in such an association is nonvoluntary; all eligible women must join, and members are fined if they do not come to meetings or arrive late.
The women’s associations act as mediators in disputes and impose punishments even in cases that have gone to court. For example, an association may impose fines for “crimes” such as defaming a woman’s character or adultery. An association may also adopt rules for proper behavior. Judgments and rules are arrived at by consensus of all the women members. If a punished member does not accept a judgment, the other members might get together and taunt the woman or take some important item from her house and refuse to have anything to do with her. Some of the larger associations also act as lending institutions, using their cash reserves from fines to lend to members or nonmembers at an interest rate of 50 percent or more. Even a male in debt to the association might be held captive in his own house until he pays his debt. It is no wonder, then, that few resist an association’s judgment for long.
Although it is not clear why women’s associations such as the Ijaw’s are common in West Africa, one of the factors that may have been important is the women’s participation in marketing and trade, which allows them to be financially independent of men. We shall see in the next section that women are increasingly forming voluntary self-help groups to improve themselves economically.
Why Do Age-sets Exist?
Anthropologists are not content to provide descriptions of the structure and operation of human associations. They also seek to understand why different types of associations develop. What may account, for example, for the development of age-set systems? S. N. Eisenstadt’s comparative study of African age-sets led him to the hypothesis that when kinship groups fail to carry out functions important to the integration of society—such as political, educational, and economic functions—age-set systems arise to fill the void. Age-set systems may provide a workable solution to a society’s need for functional divisions among its members because age is a criterion that can be applied to all members of society in the allocation of roles. But it is not at all clear why age-set systems arise to fill the void left by lack of kinship organization. Many societies have kin structures that are limited in scope, yet the majority of them have not adopted an age-set system.
B. Bernardi, in his critical evaluation of Nilo-Hamitic age-set systems, also suggested that age-set systems arise to make up for a deficiency in social organization. But, in contrast with Eisenstadt, Bernardi specifically suggested why more social organization is necessary and what particular deficiencies in the previous form of organization should favor development of age-sets. He hypothesized that age-set systems arise in societies that have a history of territorial rivalry, lack central authority, and have only dispersed kin groups. When all three factors are present, he argued, the need for a mechanism of territorial integration is supplied by an age-set system.
One cross-cultural study suggests that territorial rivalry, as indicated by warfare, may favor the development of age-set systems, but this study found no evidence to support Bernardi’s hypothesis that age-sets develop in societies that lack central authority and have only dispersed kin groups. So it does not seem that age-set societies are deficient in political or kinship organization. An alternative explanation, which is consistent with the cross-cultural evidence, is that age-set systems arise in societies that have both frequent warfare and local groups that change in size and composition throughout the year. In such situations, men may not always be able to rely on their kinsmen for cooperation in warfare because the kinsmen are not always nearby. Age-sets, however, can provide allies wherever one happens to be. This interpretation suggests that age-set systems arise in addition to, rather than as alternatives to, kin-based and politically based forms of integration.
Voluntary Associations
Voluntary associations may be found in some relatively simple societies, but they tend to be more common in stratified and complex societies, presumably because stratified societies are composed of people with many different, and often competing, interests. Consequently, voluntary associations comprise a great variety of organizations from professional affiliations and sports clubs to self-help groups and online chat rooms. Here, we will discuss some examples of voluntary associations that are not as familiar in North American experience.
Military Associations
Military associations in noncommercial societies may be compared to our own American Legion or Veterans of Foreign War. All such associations exist to unite members through their common experiences as warriors (an achieved criterion), and they perform certain services for the community. Military societies were common among the North American Plains Indians. The Cheyenne, for example, had military associations that were not ranked by age but were open to any boy or man ready to go to war. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Cheyenne had five military associations: the Fox, Dog, Shield, Elk (or Hoof Rattle), and Bowstring (or Contrary). (The Bowstring association would be annihilated by the Pawnee in the mid-19th century.) Later, two new associations were established, the Wolf and Northern Crazy Dogs. These associations may have had different costumes, songs, and dances, but they were alike in their internal organization, each being headed by four important war chiefs.
When Plains groups were confined to reservations, their military associations lost many of their old functions, but they did not entirely disappear. Among the Lakota, for example, warrior societies continue to be an important part of social life because of the many men and women who have served in the military on behalf of the United States in World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf. Returning Lakota soldiers continue to be welcomed with traditional songs of honor and victory dances.
Regional Associations
Regional associations bring together migrants from a common geographic background. Thus, they are often found in urban centers, which traditionally have attracted settlers from rural areas. In the United States, for example, migrants from rural Appalachia have formed associations in Chicago and Detroit. Many of these organizations have become vocal political forces in municipal government. Regional associations often form even when migrants have come from a considerable distance. For example, in the Chinatowns of the United States and Canada, there are many associations based on districts of origin in China or on a shared surname. Such regional and family organizations are in turn incorporated into more inclusive ethnic associations.
William Mangin described the role of regional associations in helping rural migrants adapt to urban life in Lima, Peru. During the 1950s, Mangin studied a group of migrants from the rural mountains, the serranos from Ancash. Typically these serranos, about 120,000 in number, lived in a slumlike urban settlement called a barriada. The settlement was not officially recognized either by the national government or the city authorities. Accordingly, it lacked all usual city services, such as water supply, garbage removal, and police protection. Its inhabitants had left their rural birthplaces for the social and economic reasons typical of such population movements, wherever they occur. Most had migrated because of population and land pressure, but the higher expectations associated with the big city—better education, social mobility, wage labor—were also compelling considerations. The serranos from Ancash typically formed a regional association. Club membership was open to both sexes. Men generally controlled the executive positions, and club leaders were often men who had achieved political power in their hometowns. Women, who had relatively less economic and social freedom, nevertheless played an important part in club activities.
The serrano regional association performed three main services for its members. First, it lobbied the central government on matters of community importance—for example, the supplying of sewers, clinics, and similar public services. A club member had to follow a piece of legislation through the channels of government to make certain it was not forgotten or abandoned. Second, the serrano association assisted in acculturating newly arrived serranos to the urban life in Lima. The most noticeable rural traits—coca chewing, hairstyle, and clothing peculiarities—were the first to disappear, with the men generally able to adapt faster than the women. The associations in society also provided opportunities for fuller contact with the national culture. And finally, the group organized social activities such as fiestas, acted as the clearinghouse for information transmitted to and from the home region, and supplied arange of other services to help migrants adapt to their new environment while retaining ties to their birthplace. The functions of regional associations in society may change over time as social conditions change. For example, during the plantation period in Hawaii, many Filipino migrants joined hometown associations in society that served as mutual aid societies. As more Filipinos went to Hawaii, however, more people had kin to whom they could turn. Hometown associations continue to have some economic functions, such as assistance in times of emergency, serious illness, or death, and some scholarship aid, but meetings are infrequent and most members do not attend. Those members who are active seem to want the recognition and prestige that can be attained through leadership positions in the hometown association, which is much more than they can achieve in the wider Hawaiian arena.
Although regional clubs may help to integrate their members into a more complex urban or changing environment, the presence of many such groups may increase divisiveness and rivalry among groups. In some areas, the smaller groups have banded together and become quite powerful. For example, within each Chinatown of a major U.S. or Canadian city, the various regional and family associations formed a larger Chinese Benevolent Association. Thus, by banding together, the regional and family associations formed ethnic associations (see the box on Ethnic Associations in Society in Chinatowns).
Ethnic Associations
Various types of ethnic associations in society or interest groups are found in cities all over the world. (It is sometimes difficult to say whether a particular association is ethnic or regional in origin; it may be both.) Membership in these associations is based largely on ethnicity. Ethnic associations are particularly widespread in the urban centers of West Africa. There, accelerated cultural change, reflected in altered economic arrangements, technological advances, and new urban living conditions, has weakened kinship relations and other traditional sources of support and solidarity. Tribal unions are frequently found in Nigeria and Ghana. These are typical of most such associations in that they are extraterritorial—that is, they recruit members who have left their tribal locations; also, they have a formal constitution, and they have been formed to meet certain needs arising out of the conditions of urban life. One such need is to keep members in touch with their traditional culture. The Ibo State Union, for example, in addition to providing mutual aid and financial support in case of unemployment, sickness, or death, performs the service of “fostering and keeping alive an interest in tribal song, history, language and moral beliefs and thus maintaining a person’s attachment to his native town or village.” Some tribal unions collect money to improve conditions in their ancestral homes. Education, for example, is an area of particular concern. Others publish newsletters that report members’ activities. Most unions have a young membership that exercises a powerful democratizing influence in tribal councils, and the organizations provide a springboard for those with national political aspirations.
West African occupational clubs also fall into the ethnic category. African versions of trade unions are organized along tribal as well as craft lines, and their principal concern is the status and remuneration of their members as workers. The Motor Drivers’ Union of Keta, in Ghana, was formed to fund insurance and legal costs, to contribute to medical care in case of accident or illness, and to help pay for funeral expenses.
So-called friendly societies differ from tribal unions in that their primary objective is mutual aid. Such a society was formed by the wives of Kru migrants in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Kru men normally go to sea, which is still a hazardous occupation. The club is classified into three grades. An admission fee permits entry into the lowest grade. Elevation to higher grades depends on further donations. At the death of a member or her husband, the family receives a lump sum commensurate with her status in the club.
Rotating Credit Associations
A common type of mutual aid society is the rotating credit association. The basic principle is that each member of the group agrees to make a regular contribution, in money or in kind, to a fund, which is then handed over to each member in rotation. The regular contributions promote savings by each member, but the lump sum distribution enables the recipient to do something significant with the money. These associations in society are found in many areas of East, South, and Southeast Asia, Africa (particularly West Africa), and the West Indies. They usually include a small number of people, perhaps between 10 and 30, so that rotations do not take that long. The associations are usually informal and may last only as long as one rotation.
What prevents someone from quitting after getting a lump sum? Ethnographic evidence indicates that defaulting on regular contributions is so rare that participants consider it unthinkable. Once a person joins a rotating credit association, there is strong social pressure to continue paying regularly. A person who joins does not have to fill out paperwork, as in a bank. All that is needed is a reputation for trustworthiness. There is often a social component to the association. Some have regular meetings with socializing and entertainment. A rotating credit associations in society may have one of three types of distribution. In some, a leader may decide the order of rotation, usually making the judgment on perceived need. In others, distribution is based on a random drawing or the roll of dice. The third method is based on who is willing to pay the highest interest. The principle of a rotating credit associations in society has its roots in traditional sharing systems. For example, among the Kikuyu, related women would work together to weed or harvest each other’s fields in turn. When a person had special expenses, such as a funeral, there would be a contribution party, and everyone who came would make a contribution.
Nici Nelson describes a very successful rotating credit association that developed in a squatter area of Nairobi. The founding woman organized a group of women of similar economic status who came from the Kiambu district of Kenya. Early in 1971, the group had about 20 members and then expanded to about 30. In a few years, the founder also started a land-buying cooperative. Although the rotating credit association remained embedded in the cooperative, as members became wealthy enough to have bank accounts of their own it lost its usefulness. It disbanded in the 1990s. At one point, men tried to join, but the women refused to allow it. One woman said: “They will take over and not let us speak in our own cooperative.”
In Ghana, despite 30 years of national banking institutions, most saving methods are still informal. In 1991, an estimated 55 percent of the money in the country was saved informally. Rotating credit associations flourish. Women are more likely to join rotating credit associations than men, and the associations or clubs tend to be sex-segregated. The club names often reflect their emphasis on mutual aid. One club in the Accra Makola Market has a name that translates as “Our Well-Being Depends on Others.” Most of the savings are used to provide capital for trading activities. In societies that depend on sharing, saving money is difficult. Others may ask you for money, and there may be an obligation to give it to them. However, if there is a rotating credit association, you can say that you are obliged to save for your contribution and people will understand. Rotating credit associations also appear to work well when people find it hard to delay gratification. The social pressure of the group appears sufficient to push people to save enough for their regular contribution, and the windfall you get when your turn comes is gratifying.
When people move far outside their homelands, they may make even more use of such Associations in Society. For example, rotating credit associations in Korea go back to 1633. In the Los Angeles area, Koreans are even more likely to use rotating credit associations, mostly to accumulate sums for business.
Multiethnic Associations In Society
Although many voluntary associations draw on people from the same regional or ethnic background, voluntary groups in the modern world increasingly draw members from many different backgrounds. For example, the Kafaina, or Wok Meri (“women’s work”), associations in Papua New Guinea are savings-and-loan associations that link thousands of women from different tribal areas. Originally, smaller groups started as savings associations in particular localities, but links between groups developed as women who married out of a village encouraged a relative back home or in another village to start a “daughter” group. “Mother-daughter” visits between groups can last for three days, as one group hosts another and the groups exchange money. All money received from another group is placed in a net bag that is hidden and cannot be touched, so the savings grow over time.
When a group accumulates a certain amount, a building the size of a men’s house is built for the Associations in Society and a very large ceremony is held. Does the development of these women’s associations translate into new power for women in their traditionally male-dominated societies? That has yet to happen . Apparently frustrated by their exclusion from local politics, the women are increasingly participating in the Kafaina movement. They may have intergroup exchanges, and they may now engage in public speaking, but so far their arena is still separate from the men’s arena.
Just as the Kafaina women’s associations seem to be a response to perceived deprivation, the formation of Associations in Society with multiethnic or regional membership is not unusual where colonialism or other political domination is recognized as a common problem. For example, in Alaska in the 1960s, Native Americans felt threatened by proposals for economic development that they thought would threaten their subsistence resources. Many regional and ethnic associations formed during this crisis, but perhaps more significant from the point of view of achieving substantial compensation and titles to land was the formation of a pan-Alaska association called the Alaska Federation of Natives. What made the amalgamation possible? Like the leaders of multiethnic movements in many places, the leaders at the highest levels seem to have had a lot of things in common. They were educated urban dwellers with professional occupations. Perhaps most important, many of them had attended the same schools.
Multiethnic and multiregional associations have often been involved in independence movements throughout the world. Often, revolutionary political parties develop out of such associations and lead the efforts to gain independence. Why independence movements develop in some places but not in others is not yet understood.
Other Interest Groups
Societies such as the United States consist of people from many different ethnic backgrounds. Often there are voluntary ethnic and regional associations. But the majority of the voluntary associations in our own and other complex societies have members who belong because of common, achieved interests. These common interests include occupation Associations in Society (so we have trade unions and professional associations), political affiliation (as in national political parties and political action groups), recreation (sports and game clubs, fan clubs, music and theater groups), charities, and social clubs. The larger and more diversified the society, the more different kinds of associations there are. They bring together people with common interests, aspirations, or qualifications, and they provide opportunities to work for social causes, for self-improvement, or to satisfy a need for new and stimulating experiences. We join clubs and other interest groups because we want to achieve particular goals. Not the least of such goals is identification with a “corporate” group and, through it, the acquisition of status and influence.
Joining clubs is much more important in some societies than in others. Norway is an example of a society with a rich organizational life. Even in areas with small communities, there are many different clubs. For example, Douglas Caulkins found that in the municipality of Volda, a town of about 7,000, there were 197 organizations. People were expected to be active in at least a couple of organizations, and these groups met regularly. In fact, there were so many meetings that organizations were expected to coordinate their calendars so that the meetings would not interfere with one another. Why some societies, like Norway, have so much involvement with voluntary Associations in Society is not well understood. Nor do we understand what the consequences of such involvement may be. Norway happens to have a particularly low crime rate, and it scores high on other indicators of social and economic health. Does the complexity of its organizational life and its many overlapping involvements play a role in its social health? We don’t know, because cross-cultural studies to test that possibility have not been done.
Why Do Voluntary Associations Exist?
It is difficult to say why voluntary associations arise whose membership is variably ascribed—that is, determined at birth but not found in all people of a given age-sex category. We know that voluntary associations of all types become more numerous, and more important, as the society harboring them advances in technology, complexity, and scale. No definitive explanation of this phenomenon is yet available, but the following trends seem to be sufficiently established to merit consideration.
First, there is urbanization. Developing societies are becoming urban, and as their cities grow, so does the number of people separated from their traditional kinship ties and local customs. It is not surprising, then, that the early voluntary associations should be mutual aid societies, established first to take over kin obligations in case of death and later broadening their benefits in other directions. In this respect, the recent associations of the developing African societies closely resemble the early English laboring-class Associations in Society. Those clubs also served to maintain the city migrants’ contacts with former traditions and culture. The regional Associations in Society in Latin America resemble the regional associations of European immigrants in the United States. Such associations also seem to arise in response to the migrants’ or immigrants’ needs in the new home.
Second, there is an economic factor. Migrants and immigrants try to adapt to new economic conditions, and group interests in the new situations have to be organized, promoted, and protected. Why, then, do variably ascribed Associations in Society tend to be replaced by clubs of the achieved category in highly industrialized societies? Perhaps the strong focus on specialization in industrialized societies is reflected in the formation of specialized groups. Possibly the emphasis on achievement in industrialized societies is another contributing factor. Perhaps, too, the trend toward uniformity, encouraged by mass marketing and the mass media, is progressively weakening the importance of regional and ethnic distinctions.
The result seems to be that the more broadly based organizations are being replaced by more narrowly based associations that are more responsive to particular needs not being met by the institutions of mass society. The proliferation of social media has led some commentators to suggest that face-toface voluntary associations may in time give way to virtual communities. Robert Putnam sounded the alarm 15 years ago—when social media was still in its infancy—that civil society was endangered by the decline of such community civic organizations as labor unions, parent-teacher associations, and volunteer and fraternal organizations. He noted that people still went bowling, for instance, but that they bowled alone instead of in bowling leagues. Blaming television and other media, women’s increased entry into the workforce, greater mobility, and demographic changes, Putnam worried that social and political engagement could be endangered. He may have spoken too soon, judging from the trends we are seeing in social media!