A NOTE ON PARTICIPATION IN VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS IN A MEXICAN CITY.

Here is increasing awareness among sociologists and anthropologists of the need for comparative studies of urban societies. The connection between urbanization and the development of voluntary associations a special case in point. It has long been accepted as axiomatic that the growth of cities in the United States and the voluntary associations which are such an outstanding feature of American social structure are directly related phenomena. But the development of formally organized voluntary associations another urban cultural areas remains largely inexplored. Within this context, the small pilot study reported in this paper has significance in spite of the limited scope of the research. A major purpose of this project was experimental to test the feasibility of house-to-house interviewing of a Latin American urban population as a step in the planning of further research in the area. Lack of sufficient background data complicates sampling procedure in Mexico and the fieldwork had to be fitted into a nine-weeks schedule. For this reason a proportional sample of the general population was not attempted.