Abstract

This study investigates the experiences of the people participating in voluntary group activities. A standardized questionnaire survey was conducted to the members of 9 different voluntary groups. Included among the groups selected for the survey are an alumni association of a single class members, an old-hometown fellowship association, a church fellowship group, a rural coop, and a neighborhood women's association which are the more typical types of voluntary groups in Korea. The rest includes more atypical and novel types: a religion-based commune, an environment protection group, a child-care coop, and a computer-mediated society. The number of respondents ranges between 33 and 58 per group, totalling 406 respondents. The course through which members joined the group, the level of participation in group activities, the nature of group activities, subjective/emotional experiences from the group activities, the perception of the social values of the group activities, the organizational characteristics of the group, interpersonal relations within the group, and membership activities in other groups are examined by making comparisons among different groups. Some of the general findings are as follows: the tendency to rely on yonko(the interpersonal ties based on sharing the same personal background, such as the blood relation, the hometown, or the school attended) in the joining of voluntary groups are weaker among the atypical groups; people generally participate in group activities with a stronger individual-value orientation than a social-value orientation; the most important individual outcome of voluntary group participation is socio-emotional rather than practical in nature unless the group has been established to serve specific practical purposes; and, satisfactory family and occupational lives are generally the prerequisite of voluntary group participation.