Does Commitment Change Worldviews

In this chapter, we ask whether political and civic commitment changes a person’s worldviews. Over a timeframe of eleven years (1999–2009), we consider worldviews of individuals who either become members of an environmental protection organization, a charitable organization, or a union. We show that commitment differs in relation to different groups of joiners: the majority joins an organization with worldviews similar to those who have already committed. Thus, the worldviews of this group are hardly affected by commitment. Other members, however, engage in joint action with worldviews that differ from those already committed. This group synchronizes their worldviews over time with the community they commit to. In addition, changes are durable. Commitment hence affects worldviews of new members in different ways and consequently, longitudinal analysis of subgroups is a fruitful enterprise for scholars interested in the life course effects of commitment.