Association

Definition

According to Robert Morrison MacIver, an association is “an organization deliberately formed for the collective pursuit of some interest or a set of interests, which its members share.”

Morris Ginsberg defines an association as “a group of social beings related to one another by the fact that they possess or have instituted in common an organization to secure a specific end or specific ends.”

As per George Douglas Howard Cole, the Association is “any group of persons pursuing a common purpose by a course of corporative action extending beyond a single act and for this purpose agreeing together upon certain methods of procedure, and laying down, in, however, rudimentary a form, rule for common action.”

Max Weber states that “Association should mean a social relationship that is restricted or closed to the outside, if the behavior of certain people guarantees the maintenance of its order, specially adjusted to its implementation: a leader and, possibly, an administrative staff, which, if necessary, usually also has powers of representation. “

According to American sociologist Emory S. Bogardus, “Association is usually a working together of people to achieve some purposes.”

Gillin and Gillin state, “An Association is a group of individuals united for a specific purpose or purpose and held together by recognized or sanctioned modes of procedure or behavior.”

Sociological Explanation

“A group organized for the pursuit of an interest or collection of interests in common” is what an association is.

Humans, therefore, have various interests, and to pursue them, they form various associations. There isn’t a single organization that can cater to every person’s interests.

An association in sociology is a grouping of several entities created to express shared interests. An association serves as a unifying body (an “interest group”) to advocate for the interests of all of its associated members (organizations). These might include natural persons like people or social groupings, but they can also include legal entities like associations or sub-associations, regional authorities of a state, and other self-governing organizations.

Associations usually have their own governance law (statute), structural framework, and unifying, long-term objectives. In interactions with the government and other interest organizations, they speak for the members’ interests.

Example

American Sociological Association, International Sociological Association, and European Sociological Association