The Changing Effectiveness of Local Civic Action: The Critical Nexus of Community and Organization

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Longhofer, Wesley; Negro, Giacomo; Roberts, Peter W.
• 署名单位: Emory University; Emory University
• 刊物名称: ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE QUARTERLY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-8392
• DOI: 10.1177/0001839218762403
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 203-229
• 关键词: Ethnic diversity; PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT; income inequality; FREE SPACES; neighborhood; RACE; PARTICIPATION; segregation; duration; religion

摘要

We examine changes in the effectiveness of local civic action in relation to changes over time in racial diversity and income inequality. Local civic action comprises situations in which community members come together-typically with support from local organizations-to address common issues. The collective orientation of local civic action makes it sensitive to changes in local social conditions. As these changes unfold, local organizations become differentially able to support civic action. Here, our core argument features the process through which community members associate with different local organizations and how mandated versus voluntary association results in distinct responses to increased social and economic heterogeneity. We test this argument using three decades of data describing local campaigns of the annual Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF program. A baseline model shows that within-county increases in racial diversity and income inequality are associated with diminished campaign effectiveness. Subsequent models that separate out campaigns organized by schools, churches, and clubs show that schools are relatively more effective mobilizers as racial diversity and income inequality increase, arguably due to the greater demographic matching that is induced by mandated school participation.