Testing a Dynamic Model of Social Composition: Diversity and Change in Voluntary Groups

We test a dynamic model of the social composition of voluntary groups. The model is based on the idea that sociodemographic variables define social niches in which voluntary groups grow and decline, share and compete, and change or remain static. The flow of individuals through such groups depends o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American sociological review 1996-04, Vol.61 (2), p.179-202
Main Authors: McPherson, J. Miller, Rotolo, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Associations
Carrying capacity
Convexity
Ecological modeling
Education
Group Composition
Group Dynamics
Group membership
Group Theory
Groups
Membership
Modeling
Nebraska
Organizational behavior
Population dynamics
Population ecology
Prediction Models
Social change
Social composition
Social groups
Social integration. Social relations. Social participation
Social movements
Social organization. Social system. Social structure
Social structure
Sociodemographics
Sociology
Standard deviation
Test
Testing
Voluntarism
Voluntary organizations
Volunteers
Written composition
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Summary:We test a dynamic model of the social composition of voluntary groups. The model is based on the idea that sociodemographic variables define social niches in which voluntary groups grow and decline, share and compete, and change or remain static. The flow of individuals through such groups depends on the competition of other groups for their time and other resources. We build a dynamic model of this process and show how this model can account for changes in the social composition and the social heterogeneity of voluntary groups. We use life history data on the group affiliations of 1,050 individuals from 1974 to 1989 to test hypotheses about the diversity of education among group members and about the mean level of education of the members. Our data strongly support the hypotheses.
ISSN:0003-1224
1939-8271
DOI:10.2307/2096330