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AbstractSeveral scholars have pointed out a shift from classic secondary associations to tertiary organizations based on passive support in Western countries. This development necessitates a better understanding of passive support within social science and voluntary sector management, on which strong opinions are expressed in the literature. This article attempts to contribute to the empirical basis for such opinions. We suggest that the current anxieties concerning the future of democracy if activity rates drop may be exaggerated.

Voluntary associations are often ascribed a fundamental role in the formation of social capital. However, scholars disagree on the extent to which face-to-face contact, that is, active participation, is necessary to create this resource. This article examines the impact of participation in associations on social capital using three dimensions: intensity (active vs. passive participation), scope (many vs. few affiliations) and type (nonpolitical vs. political purpose). Whereas those affiliated display higher levels of social capital than outsiders, the difference between active and passive members is absent or negligible. The only cumulative effect of participation occurs when a member belongs to several associations simultaneously, preferably with different purposes. The article challenges the notion that active participation is necessary for the formation of social capital and suggests that more attention should be paid to the importance of passive and multiple affiliations within associations.

Cultural Theory distinguishes between myths of human and physical nature as two integrated aspects of four cultural biases: hierarchy, egalitarianism, individualism, and fatalism. These biases serve as individuals' key orientations toward, for example, risk perception, public policy, and political preference. Myths of human and physical nature draw upon different intellectual histories, and an epistemological merger between the two aspects is not unproblematic. A self‐administered mail survey of organized environmentalists in Norway included the theory's graphical description of myths of physical nature and verbal descriptions of myths of human nature. The respondents understood the logic of the myths of physical nature well and did not have problems in ranking them, thereby disconfirming the theory's claim that any of the myths appear irrational from the perspective of any other. The empirical results show that respondents gave the highest priority to the hierarchical myth of physical nature and that they also endorsed the egalitarian myth of human nature. Although this outcome may appear irrational from a theoretical perspective, the authors argue that (Grid/group) Cultural Theory is best served by treating the myths of physical and human nature as logically independent of one another.

In addressing concepts like rationality, functionalism and preference formation, various branches of the new institutionalism are `united by little but a common scepticism towards atomistic accounts of social processes and a common conviction that institutional arrangements and social processes matter'. Great bulks of neoinstitutional thinking are also found within cultural theory which as yet have hardly been acknowledged by the neoinstitutionalists. Although these discrete theories to some extent use similar concepts differently, some applications of these concepts by cultural theory seem so similar to mainstream neoinstitutionalism that we may grant cultural theory the initial status of being an institutional theory. Cultural theory partly pre-empts the criticism raised by the new institutionalists by pinning down endogenous preference formation and by contextually repatriating concepts like functionalism and rationality. Moreover, cultural theory's typological approach can be assessed as a very promising version of the new institutionalism.

This article presents the major characteristics of the tradition of comparative political sociology which Stein Rokkan incarnated. Special emphasis is put on Rokkan's scientific reasoning based on the organic relationship between the creation of infrastructures for research and research efforts. Rokkan'soeuvreis marked by an acute awareness of the historical sources of institutional variation and by a concern for constructing region‐specific models reflecting culturally meaningful contexts. Rokkan's use of comparisons is treated at length before the conclusion states what the authors claim is worth preserving from the Rokkan tradition: thehistorical, institutionalandcomparativeaspects of Rokkan's approach.

This article demonstrates the simultaneous need for time-series and mul tilevel data in order to understand organizational transformation. It is based on data from an extensive research project on voluntary organiza tions that encompassed the total registration of nongovernmental organi zations in a Norwegian province at three different times. Theoretical and methodological problems concerning organizational theory in general, and population ecology in particular, are identified.

This article questions assumptions in the literature dealing with party decline. First, European aggregate membership data do not support a general conclusion of party decline. Second, individual-level data for Norway demonstrate the complexities of the relationship between membership, party identification, activity in parties, and membership stability. Third, we discuss societal changes commonly associated with party decline, such as the rise of corporatism, the new political movements, and the rise of the electronic media. The aurthors argue that these developments change the structural position of parties (external) and the relationship between different levels of the party organization itself (internal). While such developments may lead to party decline, they also give party organizations new political maneuverability. Furthermore, the growth of new parties, the politicization of new arenas, and the nationalization of party apparatuses counteract the factors associated with party decline.