ABSTRACT
Within democratic theory, there is a consensus that the quality of a democracy depends on the robustness of its associational life. It is assumed that associations have the potential to contribute to forming and enhancing the attitudes, knowledge and skills on which democratic practices are based (e.g. Putnam 1995b; van Deth 2002; Hooghe 2003). As indicated in Chapter 6 of this volume, there is a large and growing literature on these links between organisational life and democracy. According to three important claims appearing in that literature, involvement in organisations nourishes democratic attitudes, generates social trust, and fosters political participation. The empirical validity of these claims about the effects of organisational involvement is subject to analysis in earlier as well as later chapters of this book. In this chapter, however, we instead want to examine the causes of organisational involvement.
