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Democracy and Associations in Denmark: Changing Relationships between Individuals and Associations?
Lars Torpe
Aalborg University
In recent years, many have voiced doubts about whether participation in associations still has the same meaning for democracy. These doubts are related to new observations of changes in the relations between individuals and associations. The author confronts these observations with new empirical findings on the relation between members and organizations, including data on the development of membership and activity in Denmark, on the relationship between associational involvement and civic engagement, and on the members' assessment of their influence in organizations. The empirical findings both support and modify the rather pessimistic views on the democratic role of associations. In the final section, the findings are related to consideration of changes in the membership role, particularly among youth, which may signal a looser and more flexible relationship between individuals and associations in the future.
Key Words: associations • democracy • membership • influence • civic engagement
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Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3,
329-343 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0899764003254594
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