Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to expand the concept of social capital by primarily looking at the role that community centers play in the development of citizenship attitudes as well as political and voluntary behavior. This study surveyed residents of Washington City, Utah, on their use of the local community center and their citizenship attitudes and political and volunteer activities within the community. Initially, this study analyzed demographic characteristics that influence community center attendance. Secondly, it explored the relationship between community center attendance and civic behavior and citizenship attitudes or domains, as Tracy Glover (2004) defined in his study The Community Center and Social Construction of Citizenship. Finally, the study analyzed whether participating in individual or group activities influenced civic attitudes and performance. Survey responses were analyzed using factor analysis as well as OLS and logit regression analysis. Through the use of statistical modeling a fourth citizenship domain titled “recognition” was identified as the only variable influenced by attendance at the community center. Although a negative relationship was identified between attendance and volunteering, there was a statistically significant positive relationship between group activities and volunteer behavior. Finally, there was no identified relationship between whether a citizen participated in activities at the community center as a group or individually and civic attitude or performance. This research did identify other relationships between community demographics citizenship attitudes and civic performance. Although the Glover research found three areas of citizenship domain, through factor analysis this study identified a fourth citizenship factor for future study.
Keywords: Social Capital, Community Center, Civic Behavior, Citizenship Attitude, Sense of Community, Participation