Abstract:
Pipe bands, with their bagpipes and kilts, may be viewed as summarizing symbols for all that is Scottish. In most places the British empire has touched, pipe bands remain. Through a series of historical events, pipe bands, a recent invention, have become uniform in structure. As voluntary non-profit groups, pipe bands fall under the rubric of voluntary associations. Using a comparison base of two Winnipeg pipe bands this thesis intends to examine voluntary association theory. It shall also documents pipe bands as an expression of an ethnic sub-culture, and considers the origins and possible functions of these groups.
