The Politics of Association: Law and the Structuring of Rights, Restraints, and Resources in the United States, 1900 -1940

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract SES 9911428 Elisabeth S Clemens This project studies how changes in state law affect non-governmental associations from about 1900 to 1940. The issue is important because many analysts have studied such associations as vehicles to promote or retard democratization, and to promote or retard welfare and other types of social change. The legal climate in which potential associations exist affects their structure and mission, as well as composition of their membership. Identifying the legal structure and relating it to the types of organizations is the first step in the research. Following that, the PI will seek to explain variations that exist among organizational types in the same environments, and how the organizations seek to conform to their legal climates. The investigation is made possible by the considerable variation among states in laws governing associations during the period to be examined. An early part of the research will document and seek to explain variations in laws governing formal associations. Next, the research will investigate links between specific laws and the form and purpose of associations, tracing how they encourage some combinations of organizational forms while proscribing others. The scope is ambitious and the work will contribute to several areas of sociological research such as development of the welfare state and the relationships of political action and market forces. The main value of this work is historical and theoretical. Empirically, its main contribution will be to develop ways to measure political-legal structures governing the existence and activities of associations.