ORIGINAL PAPER
Do All Associations Lead to Lower Levels
of Ethnocentrism? A Two-Year Longitudinal Test
of the Selection and Adaptation Model
Marc Hooghe
•
Ellen Quintelier
Published online: 3 May 2012
Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract Within the literature on the relation between membership in voluntary
associations and tolerance, three theoretical perspectives can be distinguished. The
socialization perspective assumes that the interaction within association leads to
higher levels of tolerance; the self-selection perspective suggests that tolerant actors
are more likely to join associations; while the selection and adaption model predicts
that the group culture within an association will have a specific effect on members’
attitudes. We use a two-year panel study among Belgian adolescents to ascertain the
empirical merits of these three approaches. Results show that not all associations
have an effect on the reduction of prejudice, but that this effect is limited to specific
associations. A structural equation model furthermore suggests that socialization
effects are significantly stronger than self-selection effects. As such, this analysis of
panel data lends support to the selection and adaptation model.
Keywords Voluntary associations Á Ethnocentrism Á Panel data Á Belgium Á
Socialization Á Selection and adaptation model
Introduction
Traditionally, it has been assumed that membership of voluntary associations is
associated with the development of a more civic-oriented value pattern and more
tolerant attitudes. Famously, Tocqueville considered associations to be a learning
school of democracy as he claimed that the interaction with other members led to
the enlargement of one’s social perspective. The idea that voluntary associations
M. Hooghe (&) Á E. Quintelier
Department of Political Science, University of Leuven, Park Street 45, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
e-mail: Marc.Hooghe@soc.kuleuven.be
E. Quintelier
e-mail: Ellen.Quintelier@soc.kuleuven.be
123
Polit Behav (2013) 35:289–309
DOI 10.1007/s11109-012-9201-5
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