Creating Good Citizens?: Toward a Clarified Understanding of Selection and Causality in Volunteer Associations

Abstract

Scholars since Tocqueville have considered voluntary associations “schools of democracy” that causally impact the civic characteristics of their members. Critics of the perspective have argued that apparent causal effects are likely driven by self-selection. This paper argues that, by more carefully considering the mechanisms at work within associations, we can understand how selection and causality might both be occurring. I develop a theoretical typology of association features and then discuss the ways in which these might operate as bases for selection and as mechanisms of causality. Despite the prevalence of self-selection, substantial theoretical opportunities for causal effects of associations still exist. I conclude with a brief discussion of the implications of this for theory and research.