Love Isn't Too Strong of a Word: Emotional Support and the Persistence of a Voluntary Association

• In Event: 138 - Regular Session. Civil Society Solidarity and Boundaries

Abstract

How do voluntary associations persist? Which social factors contribute to the continued existence of a voluntary association? Previous research suggests that organizational, network, and social psychological factors affect membership in voluntary associations. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews with members of a local disc golf club, I find that members’ interactions create cohesion within the voluntary association in a previously unstudied way. Members of the predominately male disc golf club studied here provide and receive emotional support from each other. The emotional support takes two forms. Activity-related support includes encouragement and compliments centered on the association’s activity, disc golf. Life-related support includes help grappling with personal events, such as births, deaths, and role transitions. Both types of support contribute to the members’ desires to continue being members of the club. When members perceive an absence of social support, they are likely to their abandon voluntary associations. The members seek out a place to share and support each other while engaging in a common interest, but the time spent playing the game also allows time to provide emotional support about topics not related to the game. I argue that emotional support accounts for the persistence of this voluntary association and perhaps others. These findings have implications for studies of organizations, emotional support, and masculinity.

Author

• Clayton Thomas, Indiana University