Matthew Baggetta Headshot

Matthew Baggetta

Associate Professor of Public & Environmental Affairs, Indiana University-Bloomington

About Matthew

Baggetta's research focuses on civil society, civic engagement, and social movements with a particular focus on membership-based organizations. Overarching themes in Baggetta's writings include the importance of creating opportunities for members to actively participate in and lead organizations and the ways such opportunities can influence members and communities. Baggetta serves on the board of directors of the Melos Institute, a think tank focused on membership-based organizations, and contributes to Mobilizing Ideas, an interdisciplinary blog focused on social movements.

Contributions

How Civic Associations Can Create Committed Leaders

    Kenneth T. Andrews , Hahrie Han ,

In the News

Interviewed in "Charity Calculator," WalletHub, November 1, 2021.
Guest on WFYI: ALL IN, August 27, 2020.
Guest on WFYI: ALL IN, May 5, 2020.
Opinion: "“Leader” Should Be Plural," Matthew Baggetta, Mobilizing Ideas, May 29, 2017.
Guest on SAGE Podcasts, September 10, 2013.
Research discussed by Rob Stott, in "Study Looks at What Drives Volunteer Leaders’ Commitment," Associations Now, June 18, 2013.
Research discussed by Joe Rominiecki, in "Membership Memo: Schools of Democracy," Associations Now, February 1, 2013.
Research discussed by Staff Writers, in "For Civic Associations, Effective Leadership Produces Organizational Success," IU Perspectives on Policy, July 12, 2011.
Guest on WFIU’s Noon Edition, June 10, 2011.
Research discussed by Chen-Yu Wu, in "Kiwanis Needs Quality, Not Quantity," The Society Pages, October 12, 2010.
Research discussed by Brayden King, in "Forget the Bowling League, Join a Choir," OrgTheory, December 11, 2009.
Research discussed by Jessica Ruvinsky, in "What Makes Civic Associations Work," Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2010.

Publications

"Organizing and Democracy: Understanding the Possibilities for Transformative Collective Action" (with Hahrie Han and Jennifer Oser). Annual Review of Political Science 27 (2024): 245-262.

Distinguishes organizing (a transformative approach to collective action) from mobilizing (the aggregation of like-minded people) and discusses the importance of organizing for the vitality and stability of democracy.

"Can You Sing Your Way to Good Citizenship?: Recreational Association Structures and Member Political Participation" (with Ricardo Bello-Gomez). Social Problems 27 (2023).

Shows that joining recreational clubs can have small impacts on members' political participation by changing how they think about their relationship to broader communities.

"Systematic Social Observation in the Study of Civil Society Organizations" (with David M. Bredenkamp). Sociological Methods & Research 50, no. 4 (2021): 1694-1724.

Introduces an innovative new systematic social observation approach to collecting detailed, quantitative data about what goes on in large numbers of civil society organization meetings, events, and activities. Reveals that the demographic diversity of college student organizations varies in unexpected ways.

"Leading Associations: How Individual Characteristics and Team Dynamics Generate Committed Leaders" (with Hahrie Han and Kenneth T. Andrews). American Sociological Review 78, no. 4 (2013): 544-573.
Shows how the commitment of volunteer leaders is greater in environmental organizations where leadership teams work more interdependently, share work more evenly, and spend less time in meetings.
"Learning Civic Leadership: Leader Skill Development in the Sierra Club" (with Chaeyoon Lim, Kenneth T. Andrews, Marshall Ganz, and Hahrie Han) in Interest Group Politics (8th Edition), edited by Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis, (CQ Press, 2011), 110-138.

Shows what skills environmental association leaders learn, how much they develop those skills, and what associational settings foster that learning.

"Leadership, Membership, and Voice: Civic Associations That Work" (with Kenneth T. Andrews, Marshall Ganz, Hahrie Han, and Chaeyoon Lim). American Journal of Sociology 115, no. 4 (2010): 1191-1242.
Explains why some civic associations are more effective at developing skilled leaders, enhancing participation, and influencing their communities.
"Civic Opportunities in Associations: Interpersonal Interaction, Governance Experience, and Institutional Relationships" Social Forces 88, no. 1 (2009): 175-199.
Demonstrates that recreational associations offer as many (or more) opportunities for the civic development of members as political groups and service organizations.