Membership Privileges
"Membership has it's privileges." So says American Express and such is usually the case. Being a member carries a sense of belonging and acceptance into the group if nothing else. In fact, some groups get members by way of the privileges. AmEx, AAA, country clubs, and timeshares convince us to pay a fee just to receive the privileges that membership provides. Other groups are composed of people who join up to support a cause and the benefits are just a consequence of that, they are not the reason people join. Still others are more like fan groups, the group come together to extol the virtues of a particular person or thing. For these, membership is about shared love. Membership might lead to a shared cause if the object of adoration champions a particular effort but this is a secondary item; certain group members might take it up while others do not. Not so long ago in the U.S., church membership carried a certain amount of the first kind of membership. To be a