We do not refer to former members as having been “set aside,” “led out,” “relocated,” or even “sent away,” for example. Such expressions would also refer to a process of getting something that was inside onto the outside, just as groups do to members they “throw out,” “remove,” or “expel.” The image of removal that such alternative expressions would call to mind would be kinder and gentler and suggest greater respect of the expelling organization for the expellees. It is interesting that we do not ordinarily use such readily imaginable alternative verb phrases to designate these sorts of involuntary discontinuations of membership. Being “thrown out” not only gets the insider onto the outside, it also conjures up images of denigration. The same is true of other less common, more specialized verbs for involuntarily terminations of memberships in these sorts of groups, verbs like (for former clergy) “defrocked,” or (for former Amish) “shunned.”
Interestingly, in the case of Cancel memberships it is one’s membership that is acted upon by the organization that discontinues, revokes, or refuses to renew it. Members are not revoked. By contrast, in the case of Quit and Leave memberships—where one is thrown out, removed or expelled—it is the member who is acted upon by the group. The difference in the object of the verbs used in the different cases is in keeping with the fact that suffering involuntary loss of a Quit or Leave membership is taken to reflect on the worth of the member in a way that the involuntary loss of Cancel memberships does not.
Interestingly, involuntary terminations of memberships in states do not conform to the regular pattern. The way we normally talk about losing citizenship is more like the way we talk about Cancel memberships than Quit or Leave memberships in this respect. Citizens are not revoked; their citizenship is revoked. And it is “revoked,” not “thrown out.” Being “thrown out” of a state implies the same thing as being “thrown out” of Cancel membership organizations like the YMCA: physical removal from the premises, in this case the territory. Citizenship is treated as a Change membership when it comes to voluntary exits, so that one “changes” one’s citizenship rather than leaving, quitting, or canceling it. Yet, when it comes to involuntary termination, words we ordinarily use suggest that we tend to think of citizenship as a Cancel membership. And when it comes to residency in a country, we speak as though it were a Leave membership.
People can of course be “expelled” from a state, just as they can be “expelled” from Leave groups. However, normally only illegal immigrants or resident aliens lacking proper documentation or breaking the law are “expelled” from states, not citizens. Like the would-be member of the Leave membership group who does not really identify with or share the beliefs expected of group members, those expelled from a state are “in” something to which they do not “really” belong. They are properly outsiders who, prior to expulsion, were on the inside. States, like Leave membership groups, are prone to harboring people who are not really members. In Leave organizations, such people come in the form of the church member with heretical beliefs, the accidental Democrat, or the Communist Party member who proves to be secretly reactionary. In the case of states, the potential expellee is typically the illegal immigrant or, in some states, the resident alien who breaks the law.
Acquisitions of Membership
The verbs we ordinarily use for acquisitions of memberships are somewhat less rich and varied than those English provides for voluntary terminations of membership. If we look at which verbs sound right for acquisition of membership in different kinds of groups, however, the underlying pattern maps surprisingly neatly onto the fivefold schema revealed by our examination of how we talk about ending memberships. The most general and common verb for acquiring memberships is, simply, “to join.” It can normally be used without any apparent awkwardness for voluntary acquisitions of membership in the first three types of membership groups we have identified: Cancel, Quit, and Leave groups. One thus joins Cancel groups like the AAA or the racquetball club just as one joins Quit groups like the softball team or Leave groups like the Communist Party or the clergy.
The next most common verbs for acquiring memberships—“to sign up” or “to enroll”—are almost as general. The two verbs are close synonyms, and they apply to memberships in both Cancel and Quit groups. One can sign up for an amateur soccer team or the outdoor club just as one can sign up or enroll in the AAA. Interestingly, however, in contrast to the verb “to join,” these verbs are not at home when it comes to referring to memberships in Leave groups. One does normally “join” but does not normally simply “sign up for” the clergy or the Communist Party. The difference in application of these verbs thus marks the same distinction between these kinds of memberships as do the ways we ordinarily refer to voluntary terminations of memberships.
The pattern then also extends to Change and No Exit memberships. For Change groups, the way one enters the group is to “become” something. Interestingly, here the verb refers to a change in quality of the member, not merely acquisition of the membership as something external to the person. In the case of No Exit memberships, since the membership is fixed, one never really enters it by “becoming” something; one simply “is.”
Table 2.2 summarizes these patterns of verb usage for acquisitions and involuntary terminations of memberships and shows how they map onto ordinary patterns of usage for verbs referring to voluntary terminations. In the end, we have a whole pattern of regularities in ordinary English, all informed by the same implicit, underlying typology.
Ordering the Typology: Memberships’ Varying Distance from the Subject
As the arrangement of Table 2.2 implicitly suggests, the five understandings of membership can be ordered in the following sequence: No Exit, Change, Leave, Quit, and Cancel. There is an underlying logic to this order. As one moves from right to left, memberships become more and more distant from the subject. At one extreme, No Exit memberships, not only is the person a member of the group or category, but the category-defining feature is part of the person. In fact, it is normally understood as an “identity.” With memberships of this type, one would normally say simply: “I am an x.” At the other extreme, with Cancel-type memberships, there is only an arms-length and typically instrumental relationship between the person and the group of which he or she is a member. The membership may even be referred to as something the member “has” rather than “is.” For instance, one might say, “I am a member of AAA,” but it would be equally natural to say, “I have an AAA membership.” The same does not go for other sorts of memberships; compare “I am a member of the clergy” and “I have a clergy membership.”
Table 2.2. Correspondence Between Principal Exit Verbs, Other Exit Verbs (Voluntary and Involuntary), and Entrance Verbs
Moving from the opposite poles of our continuum toward the center, a Change membership is still apt to be understood as an “identity.” However, as it can be changed, it is also understood as less tightly bound to the subject. The subject could cease to be a member of the group, much as some might counsel against it.
Quit memberships are more distant from the subject. A membership of this type is thus not an “identity.” However, it does directly involve the person—usually the body—of the member, not merely his or her money. Some people, certainly, may come to define their identities around their activities, as in the case of the athlete who boasts, “I am a member of the football team,” or the professional who says, “I am a member of the faculty.” Even here, though, it is interesting that the phrase “a member of” is ordinarily apt to be used, whereas it is clearly awkward and misplaced in the case of No Exit memberships. Other aspects of ordinary language also suggest that such memberships are less generally understood as “identities” than are memberships in Change or No Exit groups. Political mobilizations of professors or football players are
