The Christian Associations and the Community

The Christian Associations and the CommunityAuthor(s): Frederick HarrisSource: Social Forces, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Jun., 1926), pp. 776-780Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3004461 .

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776 SOCIAL FORCES

THE CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS AND THE COMMUNITY FREDERICK HARRIS

I. JOINT EFFORTS

T HE Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation and the Young Women's Christian Association were con-

ceived originally as institutions parallel in the Euclidean sense-it was contem- plated that, no matter how far they were produced, they would never meet. Until recently each for the most part has pursued its own way, of course in a spirit of perfect friendliness toward the other. The similarity of general character and program, however, must not be allowed to obscure one significant fact: it is no great matter for men to establish an institution for themselves, but it is quite an enterprise for women to launch on their own hook an organization for whose direction and maintenance they alone must be primarily responsible.

During the last few years the face of the situation has been changing rapidly and the separate ways of these two institutions have crossed at numerous points. Since the local units of both are strictly auton- omous and at these points are acting largely on their own initiative, the experiments now under way present a wide diversity in character. Naturally, under the present circumstances a peculiar interest attaches to these experiments in view of their possible effect upon this policy of separateness which has been maintained for such a long period by these two institutions. The situation is ch.anging week by week, so no accurate figures can be given; but it is quite certain from the records now in hand that at nearly two hundred points in the United States some form of joint work for men and women or some form of institutional cooperation is being undertaken.

The situation will be clearer if these enterprises are reviewed briefly in the concrete. They may be divided roughly into four classes.

i. Work for women conducted by the Y. M. C. A. In many small communities where thereisaY.M.C. A.butnoY.W.C.A., the men's organization has been opening up some of its privileges to women and girls. It is estimated that in more than one hundred centers over zs ,ooo women and girls are making use of such privileges.

This development has taken place on the initiative of the men's organization. The superior material resources of the Y. M. C. A. and its policy of deliberate expansion have placed it at many points where there is no woman's Association. In a large number of these instances the women of the community are not prepared to undertake the responsibility of an Association of their own. The local Y. M. C. A. under these circumstances finds itself impelled to open its doors to women and girls for any one or all of the following reasons: (i) The building and equipment may be used to capacity by filling in the hours when it is not fre- quented by men and boys, with a corre- sponding increase in financial returns. (z) The effort for women is bound to result in an increased moral and material support for the whole enterprise. (3) This procedure makes it possible to re- spond to a desire, present in many communities, for a service for women and girls in some degree commensurate with that offered to men and boys.

These women's activities are sometimes directed by the regular Y. M. C. A. staff. At other points there is a regularly- organized Women's Department. In some cases, these special features are developed



COMMUNITY AND NEIGHBORHOOD 777

with the counsel of the national officers of the Y. W. C. A.; but in many the Y. M. C. A. proceeds entirely on its own responsibility. To those familiar with the small communities of America it is apparent that such a scheme may postpone indefinitely the organization of a Young Women's Christian Association in the fields where it is in operation. It is almost certain to do so unless carefully safe-guarded. With this probability in view the National Council of Young Men's Christian Associations, as its meeting in i92.5, urged upon its member Asso- ciations consultation with the sister organization before such work is pro- jected. This has been made state policy in half-a-dozen states.

Under such circumstances institutional relationships may be severely strained. These are not cobperative enterprises but Y. M. C. A. undertakings in which, at best, the leaders of the Y. W. C. A. act merely as counsellors. The local situations are complicated by many elements whose influence varies greatly in different situations. The local and field officers, however, are wrestling with this problem with a real concern for the welfare of the communities involved. There is much at stake in this "interesting development."

2.. The Christian Association. A second scheme involves the actual merging of work for men and women. This is not an institutional merger; so far it has found favor only with some leaders of the Y. M. C. A. and has been tried out, in part only, in one city, Philadelphia. It is being considered for suburban communities elsewhere. The chief interest in this plan centers not in any achievement under it, but in the fact that it is regarded by a number of men in the Y. M. C. A. as the ultimate goal.

The ideal is that men and women shall

have equal responsibility from the Board of Directors down and that this Christian Association shall base its work upon the needs of the family as a whole. Of course, some activities will be kept separate always; but there will only be one Asso- ciation viewing the whole task. The motive behind this tendency seemns to be an earnest desire to realize the essential values of close and active cooperation between the sexes. Those who are directing the Philadelphia experimentation urge the Young Women's Christian Association to adopt the same plan.

The viewpoint represented here embod- ies the conviction that the day of separate enterprises should be brought to an end.

3. Two instituttions using the same equipment. Whatever be the particular merits of the various practices included under this broad classification, this type of working arrangement is significant because it introduces the element of co6peration between the institutions as such. The codperation in some cases may not be strictly voluntary in the sense that it is genuinely desired by the local officers of both Associations, but each organization presumably maintains its own identity.

There is a great diversity of procedure under this plan, from a strictly limited tenancy of one organization to the projects calling for twin buildings. There are dozens of such experiments scattered from coast to coast. The effect of economic pressure is seen in the consummation of such arrangements. Maximum use of equipment and reduction of overhead are two of the objects aimed at. Joint financial campaigns are a natural development, and thus the "number of appeals" is reduced.

While joint activities may or may not be a feature of this plan, it is inconceivable that such contiguity will not in many cases alter the programs of each institu-



778 SOCIAL FORCES

tion in a manner that may affect general policy. Joint financial campaigns in themselves have a way of involving a weighing of relative values. The attention of the community is fixed upon the united enterprise. To what extent the interests of the institutions will mnerge will be determined largely in practice.

4. Joint councils. Cobperation between the Associations finds its clearest ex- pression in the joint councils usually found in universities, in smnall cities, in suburban districts, and in rural communities, wherever both Associations are strong and well-organized. These councils are, of course, simply coordinating agencies acting for the two independent organizations whenever and wherever joint action seems desirable. The student Associations have carried out this plan most consistently, and a joint national council has been very active. The County of Westchester in New York is engaged in a very interesting experiment of this type; its special feature is that the cooperative effort is broader than just the two Associations.

These joint councils are designed to meet community desires and community needs for joint activities and at the same time to preserve the value of the separate elnterprises. The motive is to secure the most effective application of character- building forces. The principle of such arrangements implies the maintenance of the identity and independence of the separate institutions, but it is necessary to take a realistic view of the situation. If the joint activities become successful and popular, the prestige of the joint councils tends to rise at the expense of the separate organizations. This means a modification of the separate plans. It is probable that under this scheme will develop many different forms accotding to the maintenance of the balance between types of activities.

In addition to these local activities, attention must be called to the cooperation between the national agencies in program building and in the publication of joint study courses. At the present time, a great deal of study is being directed to the discovery of the possible common elenlents in comprehensive programs for boys and for girls. Also, two representative com- missions are meeting in joint session to consider the problems raised by such experiments as those recorded in the pre- ceding paragraphs. Such activities are, of course, merely the proper functions of general agencies.

The real point of concern is that these local enterprises, each in its own way, raise a question regarding the traditional policy of these Associations.

II. COMMUNITY AND ORGANIZATION

SIGNIFICANCE

A rather considerable number of persons interested in the welfare of youth hail these developments, with evident satis- faction, as the beginning of the end- the end in this case being the abandon- ment of the whole principle of separateness. Whatever purpose the distinction may have served in the past, they say, everything now points to the desirability of bringing men and women, boys and girls, together in serious community activities. Yet it is not quite so simple as this. A careful examination of the situation mnakes one pause.

Very few men, and by no means all women, understand that exceedingly deli- cate experiment in social adjustment referred to casually as the Woman's Movement. The present writer claimns no such understanding; therefore, no exposition will be attemnpted here. In this discussion, it is necessary only to call particular attention to the fact that, in addition to general community interests,



COMMUNITY AND NEIGHBORHOOD 779

the interests of women are peculiarly involved. No one will maintain that these interests of women are ultimately opposed to community interest, but it is possible that the ultimate best interests of all may be best conserved by a careful conservation of women's interests at certain critical points. It is easy to let this question run off into futile abstractions.

Turning to the concrete, one will find a considerable difference between the view of "separateness" taken by the Y. M. C. A. and that held by most of the leaders of the Y. W. C. A. With the men, it is just a tradition; with the women, a tradition reexamined and approved by rational conviction.

Except where the motive is crudely economic, and the procedure quite thoughtless, the leaders of those Young Men's Christian Associations that have established work for women and girls have been moved by a genuine concern to extend to the other sex the privileges formerly reserved for men and boys. Some of them, too, appreciate very clearly that their success with men and boys depends very closely upon some co- ordinate effort in the interesis of women and girls. Where both institutions are well-organized, the more progressive men desire an integration of the two enterprises because they are quite convinced that the way for men and women to learn to live and work together properly is to get right at the business of living and working together. It is noticed that tradition does not have very much effect upon this strictly male point of view. The local Y. M. C. A. embarks upon women's work with few misgivings.

Now, the thoughtful leaders in the Y. W. C. A. are no less convinced that the welfare of the community depends upon the final achievement of a real integration of the man's part and the woman's part

in the enterprises of society; but as they see it, women are not yet ready to assume a share of major responsibilities because they have not had sufficient experience in bearing major responsibility. It is prob- ably for the same reason that they are convinced that separate political organizations are temporary necessities. Are women to be blamed for thinking that under present circumstances they would inevitably lose out in a combination such as the United Christian Association? They certainly cannot draw much encour- agement from the past experience or the present outlook in the Protestant churches. The women bear their full share, and more, of the work; but they have been assigned the position rather of auxiliaries than of principals. It is the men who do all the crowing. It really seems not unreasonable that the ladies should desire that out of all the institutions organized on a family basis there should be saved one place where women may have the priceless educational experience of managing their own affairs and carrying their own responsibilities.

The genuineness of the women's atti- tude is attested by the fact that under circumstances where women may be said to have arrived-notably in the student field, for example-no slightest objection is offered by them to any co6peration necessary to achieve desirable common aims. There has been no appeal to some stupid doctrine of "equality." Women who understand the distinctivencss of their sex far better than some men who speak so touchingly on the same theme ask only that, in this particular field and under these particular circumstances, there be a chance to defer joint effort till they can meet men face to face in a situation where fate has not loaded the dice against them.

Who is right in this particular instance?



780 SOCIAL FORCES

This is no academic question. These two institutions have exercised a powerful influence on the social and religious life of America. This influence has not been confined to their own membership; indeed, it is probable that the indirect effect of their work has been more important than the direct. How they decide is a matter of real concern.

Undoubtedly, the answer will be sought in two directions. The experimentation now in process will go on: nothing in the world can stop it. The question is, will it be subjected to such constant and en- lightened criticism as will result in an adequate evaluation? There are signs that this criticism will not be lacking. If this be true, much will be learned that can be discovered in no other way. Ex- perimentationi is being supplemented very wisely by another process. The Asso-

ciations are only two out of many community agencies and even their combined responsibilities are limited. It has al- ready been planned, therefore, to conduct, under the direction of a group of compe- tent men and women, a careful inquiry into the woman's movement. In order to discover just where the Associations fit in, it will be necessary to view this striking social development from a stand- point broader than that of immediate expediency. The tentative results of such an inquiry will be available to guide the experimenters.

Plainly there is a stony road ahead; for, of course, both the experimentation and the inquiry are beset with almost in- superable difficulties. In the end everything will have to be related to the American Home-but that is another story.

GUIDES TO PERIODICAL READING

GEORGE B. LOGAN

The American frontier of settlement had vanished before I890. But there are other frontiers, less spectacular and roman- tic, which continue to creep toward the Pacific. "The Persistence of the West- ward Movement," as John Carl Parish sees it in the April Yale Review, may be marked by the changing center of popula- tion, the growth of large cities, railroad and highway construction, the production of lumber and oil, manufactures, and intensive farming. Even culture, though it cannot be measured and graphed, is revealed as sharing in the same trek through the distribution of universities, libraries, publishing, and art centers. Our new contact with the Orient is beginning to give a peculiar and swiftly increas- ing importance to the life of the Far West.

The family is first of all a collection of individuals in domestic relationship. It is also a unity of interacting personalities. Still more, it is a social institution, recog- nizing its own distinct functions in the community. From the beginning of his- tory there has been a definite family type, yet with immense differences in varying times and places. The small family of father, mother, and children, emancipated from all kinship control, is a product of the modern city. It may be highly inte- grated, with an elaborate ritual, severe discipline, cooperative activities, and sen- timental interdependence; or it may be only loosely bound together, giving frce rein to all individual aims. From the attempt, more or less conscious, to express two or sometimes three sets of ideals and



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The Christian Associations and the Community