Niches and Networks Among Voluntary Groups

志愿协会的发展和衰落是一个 当代社会备受关注的问题，但 理解这种可行性的原因， 社团是社会学理论的经典关注点 与研究本研究者建议复制一个 对志愿协会及其 成员资格得到显著扩展和改进 超越了早期NSF资助的数据收集和分析。他 被认为是最有创造力和技巧的 复杂组织领域的社会学家。的 目前的建议是一个丰富的融合了几个理论 对组织的看法，包括生态模型 自愿协会之间的竞争， 他们的成长和衰落，以及一系列有吸引力的计划 统计分析适合的数据类型， 收集。结果应该进一步推动PI自己的 动态增长理论的累积发展 志愿组织的衰落。

The growth and decline of voluntary associations is a contemporary social issue of great concern; yet understanding the reasons for the viability of such associations is a classic concern of sociological theory and research. This investigator proposes to replicate an earlier survey of voluntary associations and their memberships with significant extensions and improvements beyond earlier NSF funded data collection and analysis. He is viewed as one of the most creative and skilled sociologists in the field of complex organization. The present proposal is a rich blend of several theoretical perspectives on organizations, including ecological models of the competition among voluntary associations and of their growth and decline, and an attractive set of planned statistical analyses appropriate to the kind of data to be collected. The results should further the PIs own cumulative development of a dynamic theory of the growth and decline of voluntary associations.