In rural regions, trained volunteer firefighters and medics provide emergency services, often with considerable personal risk and without financial reward. However, these Volunteers exhibit two different latent orientations: firefighters are more localistic in their outlook than medical volunteers. These latent orientations reflect the structural characteristics of the two emergency service agencies. These orientations are empirically demonstrated to persist in the volunteering and personal attributes of the volunteers themselves. Survey data are incorporated into a probit model to indicate the relative influence of orientational factors on where the volunteers offer their emergency services.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Gouldner, A. W. (1954). Patterns of industrial bureaucracy. Glencoe. IL: Free Press.
2.
Gouldner, A. W. (1957). Cosmopolitans and locals: Toward an analysis of latent social roles. Administrative Science Quarterly, 2, 281–306, 444–480.
3.
Merton, R. K. (1973). Local and cosmopolitan influentials. In R. L. Warren (Ed.), Perspectives on the American community.Chicago: Rand McNally.
4.
Milofsky, C. (1993). Volunteering for dangerous work: The context of ambulance work by volunteer emergency medical technicians. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, Toronto, October 28-30.
5.
Perkins, K. B. (1987). Volunteer fire departments: Community integration, autonomy and survival. Human Organization, 46 (4), 342–348.
6.
Perkins, K. B. (1990). Volunteer fire and rescue corporations: Structure, process, and survival. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 19 (4), 359–370.
7.
Perkins, K. B., & Metz, C. W. (1988). Note on the commitment and community among volunteer firefighters. Sociological Inquiry, 58 (1), 117–121.
8.
Poplin, D. E. (1972). Communities. New York: Macmillan.
9.
Thompson, A. M. (1991). Survey of volunteer firefighters. Poughkeepsie. NY: Vassar College Department of Economics.
10.
Thompson, A. M. (1992). Survey of emergency medical service volunteers. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vassar College Department of Economics.
11.
Thompson, A. M. (1993a). Volunteers and their communities: A comparative analysis of volunteer firefighters. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 22 (2), 155–166.
12.
Thompson, A. M. (1993b). Volunteer emergency medical squads and their communities: A demographic comparison. Journal of Community Health, 18 (6), 379–392.
13.
Thompson, A. M. (1993c). Work without wages: The motivation for volunteer firefighters. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 52 (3), 323–343.
14.
Tonnies, F. (1957). Community and society. Translation by C. P. Loomis. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
15.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. (1993). 1990 census of population and housing. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
