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Social Inequalities in Youth Volunteerism: A Life-Track Perspective on Danish Youths
Abstract
Civic participation among today’s youth is a topic of widespread concern for policy-makers, academics, and the publics of Western countries at large. Though scholars have increasingly become aware of deep-rooted social inequalities in access to volunteering in the adult population, differences in opportunity structures that facilitate participation among young people are rarely recognized. In this paper, I put forward a ‘life-track perspective’ on youth volunteerism that highlights crucial within-group differences among youths. I present empirical findings from a unique Danish national survey with multiple waves enriched with national register data. The study sheds light on the changing importance of longstanding dividing lines—gender, social class, and education—in volunteering trends among the young. While young people are seemingly more gender-equal in their volunteering behavior than older cohorts, higher education as a gateway to volunteering is of much greater importance among the young. This educational ‘elitism’ in volunteering has, furthermore, intensified among young people between 2004 and 2012.
... Research has shown that the motivation to volunteer stems from a search for self-realization and serves as a way to promote personal goals and aspirations by contributing to collective objectives in the community (Bonnesen, 2018;Einat & Michaeli, 2018;Smith et al., 2010;Snyder & Omoto, 2008). ...
... Furthermore, volunteering develops civic responsibility, helps acquire civic and leadership skills, and an interest in politics. Finally, volunteerism and social involvement also develop ideological and ethical attitudes, internalize norms, and instill values of normative behavior (Bonnesen, 2018;Celio et al., 2011;Einat & Michaeli, 2018;Grimm et al., 2005;Handy et al., 2010;Hart et al., 2008;Hart 3 et al., 2014;Metz et al., 2003;Snyder & Omoto, 2008;Walsh & Black, 2015;Wray-Lake & Syvertsen, 2011). As adolescents mature, they are more likely to participate in volunteer activities and to continue doing so into adulthood, thus impacting the probability of a future successful professional career (Brown et al., 2003;Handy et al., 2010;Smith et al., 2010;Walsh & Black, 2015). ...
... In order to look into these questions, first the characteristics of the active students should be discussed. Bonnesen (2018) found that personal characteristics, such as ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, and education affect adolescents' inclination to volunteer. Therefore, schools should work toward narrowing ethnic gaps through education toward volunteering and creating settings in which their students can volunteer. ...
The study examined adolescents' social involvement and volunteerism in their student councils and becoming civically engaged adults. Two‐hundred and two middle‐ and high‐school students active in their councils were asked about their involvement in the student council's activities and their perception of the student council as a framework for volunteerism and social involvement. Findings revealed that middle‐ and high‐school active members had been active already in elementary school and were involved in additional school/community volunteerism projects, and their parents were civically engaged adults. To conclude, the student council is an educational platform that promotes students to develop as socially involved adult citizens.
... Greater understanding of the motivations behind youth volunteering is important for recruitment and retention strategies as targeting messaging to young people and matching individuals to suitable activities can be effective in preventing high turnover [36]. The need to be mindful that motivations of young people change over time and at critical transition points such as entry into secondary school or college is highlighted [40][41][42]. Davies cautions that 'although early experiences can provide an important foundation for volunteering, opportunities for participation must also be viewed alongside the lifecourse and in conjunction with events in individuals' lives' (2018, p.269). ...
... Mirroring the experience of youth civic engagement, volunteering among young people is also associated with socio-economic status and demographic factors. Research suggests that higher levels of income and greater levels of educational attainment are positively associated with rates of volunteering while participation of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and ethnic and minority groups is lower due to issues of access and opportunity [30,40,43,44]. Such studies point to the importance of contextual factors in encouraging youth volunteering. ...
Young people engaging in volunteering are encountering some of the greatest, unanticipated challenges facing society in decades including the impact of Covid-19, the rise in extreme poverty and an increase in the number of migrants and displaced persons globally. Youth volunteering is understood as embracing a wide range of civic and societal objectives. It acts to encourage young people to become active citizens and agents of positive change for communities. It has a role in providing developmental opportunities to young people including pathways to education, training and work. While some characterisations of volunteering highlight benefits it accords at the individual level, increasingly, policy responses are focusing on the ‘other-oriented’ elements that contribute to an inclusive, committed and tolerant society. This paper examines the potential role of volunteering in fostering a culture of citizenship, democracy and social cohesion among youth, in particular, an emerging focus on empathy and global consciousness as key elements of policy and practice.
... Fyall and Gazley (2015) do not report any gender differences of individuals of advanced age and who work full-time. By contrast, Bonnesen (2018) finds that among younger individuals, gender differences in volunteering are smaller than in older cohorts. In addition, she shows that higher education is significantly positively related to young individuals' volunteering and hence more important than for older adolescents. ...
This study examines the moderating effects of national female labor force participation, women in sport leadership positions, and female medalists in recent Olympic Games on women's probability to volunteer in sport. Based on social role theory and the similarity attraction paradigm, we predict that all three factors result in a higher probability of women to volunteer in sport, but with differences among age groups. Linear probability models before and after applying coarsened exact matching were estimated using data from the 2017 Eurobarometer (n = 18,529). The results show that women have a significantly lower probability to volunteer in sport in countries with high female labor force participation and a high share of women in leadership positions in sport organizations. The likelihood of women volunteering in sport is significantly higher in countries with a high share of female Olympic medalists. The age group‐specific analysis asking whether volunteering should be considered an investment in human capital by younger women and/or an acquisition of social capital by older women, reveals that a high presence of women among leaders in sport organizations and Olympic medalists is significantly positively correlated with the probability for young women to volunteer in sport. Managers and leaders of nonprofit sport organizations learn from our study that volunteering should be perceived as an investment in human capital by younger women rather than an attempt to acquire social capital by older women.
... Scarce empirical evidence is provided for (general) volunteering with mixed findings. While Bonnesen [54] shows that there are significantly fewer gender differences in volunteering among younger individuals, she also points out the importance of higher education which significantly and positively affects volunteering of young individuals. By contrast, the study of Fyall and Gazley [43] finds no significant gender differences among volunteers for full-time working adolescents of advanced age. ...
Gender equality among volunteers and in the labor market are essential for social sustainability. This study examines whether women value benefits of sport volunteering for their job market situation significantly differently than men. Based on signaling and social role theory, we hypothesize that women are more likely to value sport volunteering as a job market signal and as useful for career options than men. According to human capital and ecological systems theory, we hypothesize that this link depends on women’s age and national gender equality. An online survey targeting volunteers in European football clubs (in seven countries; n = 16,989) was conducted. Logistic regressions are estimated to analyze the factors affecting respondents’ agreement that sport volunteering ‘looks good on their CV’ or ‘allows to explore new career options’. The findings show that women are significantly more likely to value sport volunteering as a job market signal but are significantly less likely to explore new career options than men. While older women are significantly less likely to agree, women living in more gender equal countries are more likely to agree. Our findings indicate a link between the male dominance in sport volunteering and the job market, which is determined by social sustainability.
... Forskning har også vist at fritidsklubber gjerne oppsøkes av ungdom fra familier hvor foreldrene har lav inntekt eller utdanning (Pedersen, 2008;Øia, 2009). Motsatt oppsøker ungdom fra lavinntektsfamilier i mindre grad strukturerte fritidsaktiviteter som idrett og tradisjonelt organisasjonsliv (Strandbu, Gulløy, Andersen, Seippel & Dalen, 2017;Bakken, 2018Bakken, , 2019Bonnesen, 2018;Ekholm, Dahlstedt & Rönnbäck, 2019). Dette forholdet har betydning for valg av fritidsklubber som en folkehelsearena, idet en viktig målsetting i den nasjonale folkehelsepolitikken er å utjevne sosiale forskjeller i helse. ...
Denne artikkelen undersøker hva som kjennetegner norske ungdommer som bruker fritidsklubber. Er det noen trekk ved ungdommers sosiale bakgrunn, helsesituasjon, sosiale relasjoner, fritidsmønster eller eventuell problematferd som øker eller reduserer sannsynligheten for at ungdom bruker fritidsklubbene? Og i hvilken grad varierer dette mellom kommuner av ulik størrelse? Analysene viser at ungdom som går på fritidsklubb ikke skiller seg mye fra ungdom som ikke bruker klubbene. Samtidig er tendensen til å bruke klubbene høyest blant ungdom som har relativt få sosioøkonomiske ressurser hjemme og blant dem som er mest utilfreds med egen helse, eller som i størst grad er utsatt for vold eller mobbing eller begår regelbrudd. Analysen viser videre at ungdom som går på fritidsklubb, i stor grad også driver med andre organiserte fritidsaktiviteter som for eksempel idrett. Dette funnet brukes i artikelen i en diskusjon av hvorvidt klubbene kan virke forebyggende mot ulike typer ungdomsproblemer. Diskusjonen tar utgangspunkt i svensk forskning, som har påvist sammenheng mellom det å gå på fritidsklubb og det å være involvert i kriminalitet og regelbrudd. Artikkelen bygger på spørreskjemasvar fra et landsrepresentativt utvalg av norske ungdommer i alderen 13 til 16 år i årene 2015 til 2017 N=117 429.
... All of these factors help to improve their employability, which is understood as the "set of skills and attitudes that allow an individual to secure and keep a job" (Royal Spanish Academy, 2017). Dean (2016) and Bonnesen (2018) describe that youth participation depends largely on the social class. Most young volunteers are primarily middle class. ...
Studies on the benefits of volunteering in young people have received some attention, although important knowledge gaps still exist concerning this matter. The main aim of this study is to analyse the different profiles of those who choose to take part in voluntary activities and those who do not; another aim being to analyse the benefits of volunteering in young people. A total of 66 young people participating in training programmes in Spain completed a questionnaire and took part in a follow-up survey six months later. The study found that the young volunteers were more likely to volunteer in the future, perceiving a greater social support and attaching more importance to interpersonal values. After completing their volunteer experience, the young volunteers, as opposed to the non-volunteers, had a positive image of volunteering and perceived themselves as more likely to find a job. The results obtained are discussed.
... In addition to an individual unwillingness or lack of desire among some members of the population to volunteer, scholarship indicates that vulnerable groups display lower rates of volunteering due to inequality in the public appeal to volunteer (Bonnesen, 2018;Lee & Brudney, 2009). An individual's likelihood to be called on to volunteer depends on his or her human capital, that is to say, whether the individual is educated, participates in the job market, is active in a religious organization, or is a child of parents who volunteer (Freeman, 1997). ...
Whereas the literature deals extensively with volunteering with at-risk youth, relatively little research has addressed the practical work strategies of the volunteers themselves. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the strategies employed by youth mentoring volunteers based on qualitative research with 28 volunteers, two-thirds of whom defined themselves as former youth in distress. This focus enables us to learn about ways of coping with marginality from individuals who actually experienced it. The results point to six strategies that were reflected in the interviews: honesty and directness, listening, informal activities, refraining from judgment and containing anger and resistance, bridging between youth and caregiving entities, and cultivating a realistic sense of self-efficacy as volunteers. In essence, these strategies seek to increase access to the youth, to provide them with unconditional support, and to enable volunteers to supplement the professionals for the benefit of the youth. Though not professionals, volunteers create an agency-promoting environment to help youth escape marginalization.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740918311010?dgcid=author
... Despite the tendency to think of volunteering as being based on free will, literature on volunteering highlights the need to encourage volunteers to step up and volunteer. Literature shows that inequality in volunteering stems from the fact that some individuals in society are being called to volunteer while others are not (Bonnesen, 2018;Lee & Brudney, 2009). One's likelihood to be called to volunteer is dependent on one's human capital; for example whether the individual is educated, participates in the job market, is active in a religious organization, or is a child of parents who volunteer (Freeman, 1997). ...
Viewing disability as a form of social capital, this paper examines the unique contribution of volunteers with disabilities and the meaning that volunteering holds for them. Of the 35 volunteers with disabilities interviewed, all were volunteering in self-help organizations for people with disabilities, half of them in administrative and leadership roles. The interviews revealed rich and active stories. Their areas of activity were diverse and encompassed various organizations. The volunteers crossed over from the role of merely extending services to their beneficiaries to becoming activists for political and social change. Their practices suggest that the volunteers' self-identity as individuals with disabilities has shaped their supportive approach. Therefore, understanding their unique resources as people with disabilities is key to developing an organizational culture that promotes integrative recruitment of volunteers.
CONTRADICTIONS OF STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION
FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE ACTIVITIES OF VOLUNTARY
ORGANISATIONS
A. V. Starshinova
Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin,
Ekaterinburg, Russia.
E-mail: a.v.starshinova@urfu.ru
Abstract. Introduction. Volunteering is an effective tool for the development
of society and a powerful personal development resource. However, ignoring the
value content of volunteering in the mass organisation of volunteer youth associations reduces its ability to achieve social, economic, cultural and other altruistic
goals. The formal approach to volunteering fails to meet either the public interest
or the needs and expectations of young people. Participation in volunteering under the influence of external factors in case of unformed or controversial intrinsic
motivation for this activity causes dissatisfaction with the work and termination
of activities.
Aim. On the basis of the value of volunteerism, the aim of the present publication is to identify and analyse the motivation for student volunteering.
Methodology and research methods. The leading method of empirical research was the questionnaire survey among the members of volunteer organisations: schoolchildren, students of secondary specialised educational institutions
and university students. The questionnaire was based on the theory of the motives of volunteering and their classification. The sample (N = 207) was formed using stratified random sampling. The quantitative research strategy included such
tools as drawing up a portrait of a volunteer based on projective questions, using
the method of unfinished sentences, the method of direct ranking of motives. The materials were processed in the programme Vortex 10.
Results and scientific novelty. The study of the activity of volunteer associations existing on the basis of educational institutions indicates that such activity has become a compulsory type of extra-school work of students, which is veiled under volunteerism. Such “volunteering” is managed mainly through administration and is complied with the tasks of the educational institution. A typology of
volunteering motives was formed, reflecting the subjective perceptions of young people. Comparison of the typology obtained with the declared motivation showed their consistency. When analysing the individual structure of motives, a predominance of focus on one’s own requests, rather than on social problems, was recorded. According to respondents’ answers, an “ideal type” of a volunteer is focused
exclusively on altruistic values. An “ideal” leader of a volunteer organisation is characterised only as a manager. The key contradiction of youth volunteering is formed between its value essence as a free voluntary activity for the benefit of society and the predominance of egoistic motives for participation in it. The shift of
emphasis in the motivation of young students to attitudes towards volunteering as a resource for personal development contributes to the growth of contradictions in real practice. The result of formalism, regulation and distortions in the reasons for volunteering is a disappointment in it. More than a third of volunteers
leave volunteer associations due to loss or initial lack of internal motivation.
Practical significance consists in scientific justification for the need to rethink and change the methods of volunteer management, taking into account its
value components. The existing contradictions in the motivation of volunteers initiate the search for new approaches to the organisation of their selfless, socially
significant work.
Keywords: volunteering, volunteer organisations, motive, motivation, student youth, contradictions, values.
Although children’s citizenship is generally overlooked in much of contemporary research on citizenship, Western policy-makers hope to equip children with the tools necessary for successful (future) civic participation. Still, very little is known about the ability of civil society to support citizenship learning for the youngest generations. This article presents original, quantitative research from a study on a local community program for children aged 8–16 in Denmark. The purpose of the program – implemented by the Danish Red Cross Youth – is to embed children and adolescents in local community networks, in this way fostering their citizenship capacities. Starting from theories on children’s ‘lived’ citizenship and citizenship as a learning process, local children’s one-year development on different everyday aspects of citizenship is analyzed, and the effects of community program participation are investigated. It is found that it is, indeed, possible to strengthen the citizenship learning of children from many different social backgrounds through an intentional, volunteer-based intervention – but active involvement of child participants is a key ingredient in supporting their volunteering experiences. Furthermore, inequality in program yield for different social groups can be an unintentional consequence of individual child self-selection when participation is non-mandatory.
Introduction . Volunteering is an effective tool for the development of society and a powerful personal development resource. However, ignoring the value content of volunteering in the mass organisation of volunteer youth associations reduces its ability to achieve social, economic, cultural and other altruistic goals. The formal approach to volunteering fails to meet either the public interest or the needs and expectations of young people. Participation in volunteering under the influence of external factors in case of unformed or controversial intrinsic motivation for this activity causes dissatisfaction with the work and termination of activities.
Aim . On the basis of the value of volunteerism, the aim of the present publication is to identify and analyse the motivation for student volunteering.
Methodology and research methods . The leading method of empirical research was the questionnaire survey among the members of volunteer organisations: schoolchildren, students of secondary specialised educational institutions and university students. The questionnaire was based on the theory of the motives of volunteering and their classification. The sample (N = 207) was formed using stratified random sampling. The quantitative research strategy included such tools as drawing up a portrait of a volunteer based on projective questions, using the method of unfinished sentences, the method of direct ranking of motives. The materials were processed in the programme Vortex 10.
Results and scientific novelty . The study of the activity of volunteer associations existing on the basis of educational institutions indicates that such activity has become a compulsory type of extra-school work of students, which is veiled under volunteerism. Such “volunteering” is managed mainly through administration and is complied with the tasks of the educational institution. A typology of volunteering motives was formed, reflecting the subjective perceptions of young people. Comparison of the typology obtained with the declared motivation showed their consistency. When analysing the individual structure of motives, a predominance of focus on one’s own requests, rather than on social problems, was recorded. According to respondents’ answers, an “ideal type” of a volunteer is focused exclusively on altruistic values. An “ideal” leader of a volunteer organisation is characterised only as a manager. The key contradiction of youth volunteering is formed between its value essence as a free voluntary activity for the benefit of society and the predominance of egoistic motives for participation in it. The shift of emphasis in the motivation of young students to attitudes towards volunteering as a resource for personal development contributes to the growth of contradictions in real practice. The result of formalism, regulation and distortions in the reasons for volunteering is a disappointment in it. More than a third of volunteers leave volunteer associations due to loss or initial lack of internal motivation.
Practical significance consists in scientific justification for the need to rethink and change the methods of volunteer management, taking into account its value components. The existing contradictions in the motivation of volunteers initiate the search for new approaches to the organisation of their selfless, socially significant work.
Die LehrerInnenfort- und LehrerInnenweiterbildung nimmt – als dritte Phase der LehrerInnenbildung – eine wichtige Rolle im Rahmen der Professionalisierung ein. Ihr fällt dabei unter anderem deshalb eine besondere Rolle zu, da die Entwicklung von Expertise ein mehrjähriger Prozess ist, der sich bis weit in die Phase des Berufslebens hinein erstreckt. Lehrkräfte können annähernd vier Jahrzehnte im Berufsleben stehen – im Vergleich mit der Ausbildungsphase eine lange Zeit, die sie theoretisch mit (Fort-)Bildung verbringen können. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden zunächst die Begriffe Fort- und Weiterbildung (für Lehrpersonen) geklärt und anschließend deren Rahmenbedingungen erörtert. Ein weiterer Teil widmet sich den empirischen Befunden, die in Österreich zur Nutzung und zur Wirkung vorliegen. Abschließend werden zukünftige Handlungsfelder und Herausforderungen für das System der LehrerInnenfortbildung in Österreich skizziert
Die inter- und multidisziplinäre Beschaffenheit der empirischen Bildungsforschung verweist auf Vernetzungen und Berührungspunkte von Theoriepositionen
und Forschungserkenntnissen. Zentral ist die Betrachtung von personalen und
sozialen Lernprozessen über die Lebensspanne. Aus kritisch-konstruktiver Perspektive kommen Wissensbestände und Lernorte, die ungleich zugänglich
bzw. mit Barrieren versehen sind, in den Blick. Die daraus resultierenden Bildungswirklichkeiten müssen reflexiv erforscht und gestaltet werden, um zur Demokratisierung von Wissen und Bildung beizutragen. Gegenwärtige, sich dynamisch
verändernde Gesellschaften mit einem Anspruch auf Inklusion, Teilhabe und Mitbestimmung benötigen für die Erreichung dieser Ziele umfassendes Wissen über die Gestaltung und Sicherung der Qualität von Bildungsprozessen und Lernumgebungen. Diese Publikation stellt Theoriebezüge und aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse
vor.
DANSK SOCIOLOGI 4/03 Det viser sig, at relativt yngre fødselsårgange har ringere chance for at opnå sociale positioner som direktører/højere funktionærer end relativt ældre årgange. Yngre årgange har ligeledes større risiko for at ende i gruppen af ikke-faglærte. Dette kan forklares ud fra ændrede beskæftigelsesvilkår og uddannelsesinflation. Nogenlunde ens sociale positioner besættes over tid i stigende grad af personer med uddannelseskapital, blåstemplet og efterspurgt på arbejdsmarkedet. Disse resultater peger i retning af et mere ulige belønningssamfund. - forskellige fødselsårganges vilkår
Participating in civic life is an important developmental task of adolescence and a central tenet of democracy. What motivates diverse youth in the United States to become involved in civic life? Using a mixed-method and person-centered approach, the authors (1) identified subgroups of participants based on their motivations for political and nonpolitical volunteering and (2) explored differences in civic motivations by ethnic and immigration backgrounds among Asian and Latino adolescents. Using latent class analysis, the authors identified four classes of motivation for political (n = 414) and nonpolitical volunteer (n = 1,066) activities: helping identity, instrumental, personal issue, and weak motivation. Overall, first- and second-generation Latino and Asian youth and nonimmigrants showed more similarities than differences in civic motivations. Survey and interview data revealed that youth from immigrant backgrounds were more motivated to volunteer by instrumental reasons compared to nonimmigrants. Qualitative analyses also revealed that immigrant youth from Mexican backgrounds were mobilized around issues of immigration reform whereas youth from Asian backgrounds were concerned with issues in their local communities.
This paper examines how volunteering varies over the life course. Based on three theoretical explanations (resources, interests,
and role substitution), we analyze how changing family characteristics, employment status, and educational attainment affects
individual volunteering behavior. Drawing on longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 1985–2009), we
compare estimates from between-effects and fixed-effects models. In this way, we discriminate between variation in volunteering
frequency that is due to differences between social groups and changes over time, respectively. We find that volunteering
behavior is relatively stable over the life course. Moreover, some of the differences that we observe between individuals
are no longer statistically significant once we focus on within-person variation. This finding shows the importance of unobserved
heterogeneity and selection into volunteerism, which has not been addressed systematically in previous work. Although life-course
events have an impact on the frequency of volunteering, their influence is limited and largely constrained to events occurring
in the family domain.
By now, the becoming business-like of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is a well-established global phenomenon that has received ever-growing attention from management and organization studies. However, the field remains hard to grasp in its entirety, as researchers use a multitude of similar, yet distinct, key concepts. The considerable range and complexity of these overlapping notions create major challenges: Scholars struggle to position their work in a larger context; it is not easy to build on previous findings and methodological developments; and research gaps are difficult to identify. The present article presents the first systematic literature review to confront those challenges by reviewing 599 relevant sources. In a first step, various key concepts are clarified. Second, the field is mapped according to three research foci: causes of NPOs becoming business-like, organizational structures and processes of becoming business-like, and effects of becoming business-like. From this, we draw conclusions and make suggestions for further research.
This article reviews the American literature in social science for the period 1975–1992 on the determinants of volunteer participation in programs and associations. It finds that most studies are too narrow in the hinds of variables that they include and that explanatory power is reduced as a result. Such participation is significantly greater for certain hinds of variables: contextual (for example, smaller community), social background (for example, higher education), personality (for example, more efficacy/internal locus of control), and attitude (for example, more group attractiveness) as well as situational variables (for example, being asked to join). Very few studies combine measures of each type of variable. When several predictor realms arc included, much higher variance is accounted for. Other social participation (political, mass media, recreational, and so on) is associated with volunteer participation. This association confirms a general activity model that posits a clustering of different types of socioculturally approved discretionary activity.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the character of response bias in a Danish survey among native Danes and immigrants from Turkey, Iran and Pakistan and thus enable the tailoring of future surveys to particular immigrants groups. We find that both contact rates and cooperation rates are lower for immigrants, leading to a significantly lower overall response rate. We also find important differences between groups - immigrants from Pakistan are especially difficult to reach, while refusals are particularly high among those from Turkey. Language is likewise important as a very large share of women could not be interviewed in Danish. We analyse not only the determinants of the probability of contact and the probability of cooperation but also the determinants of overall nonresponse, by looking at individual characteristics and observable interviewer characteristics. We find that the characteristics of the sample persons are important for both contact and cooperation rates, with different factors affecting each. Yet none of the observable interviewer characteristics appear to affect the response rate. Furthermore, after controlling for all the other variables, we find that the lower probability of response among immigrants compared to native Danes persists. The analysis clearly points to the need for
tailoring surveys directed to immigrant groups to avoid response bias.
This article examines the relationship between poverty and family instability during childhood on prosocial behavior-volunteerism-during late adolescen ce. The 1996 Young Adult supplements of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) are linked to mother andfamily records from the 1979-1996 main NLSY sample to create life history records spanning childhood and adolescence. Adolescents-especially males-from single-parent families are less likely than those growing up in married couple households to be involved in volunteer work. Volunteerism is more strongly related to time spent in poverty among females than males. The results support a mediational model, in which negative effects of childhood social and economic disadvantages on later prosocial behavior occur indirectly through effects on socioemotional development and life experiences during adolescence. The results inform current concerns about putative declines in a civil society and the elevation of individualism over communalism among today's young people.
This paper presents a theory-guided examination of the (changing) nature of volunteering through the lens of sociological modernization theories. Existing accounts of qualitative changes in motivational bases and patterns of volunteering are interpreted against the background of broader, modernization-driven social-structural transformations. It is argued that volunteer involvement should be qualified as a biographically embedded reality, and a new analytical framework of collective and reflexive styles of volunteering is constructed along the lines of the ideal-typical biographical models that are delineated by modernization theorists. Styles of volunteering are understood as essentially multidimensional, multiform, and multilevel in nature. Both structural-behavioral and motivational-attitudinal volunteering features are explored along the lines of six different dimensions: the biographical frame of reference, the motivational structure, the course and intensity of commitment, the organizational environment, the choice of (field of) activity, and the relation to paid work.
Who tends to volunteer and why? What causes attract certain types of volunteers? What motivates people to volunteer? How can volunteers be persuaded to continue their service? Making use of a broad range of survey information to offer a detailed portrait of the volunteer in America, Volunteers provides an important resource for everyone who works with volunteers or is interested in their role in contemporary society. Mark A. Musick and John Wilson address issues of volunteer motivation by focusing on individuals' subjective states, their available resources, and the influence of gender and race. In a section on social context, they reveal how volunteer work is influenced by family relationships and obligations through the impact of schools, churches, and communities. They consider cross-national differences in volunteering and historical trends, and close with consideration of the research on the organization of volunteer work and the consequences of volunteering for the volunteer.
This article utilizes Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of habitus and cultural capital to offer some explanation as to why there is a lack of class diversity in formal volunteering in the United Kingdom. Recent studies have shown that participation in volunteering is heavily dependent on social class revolving around a highly committed middle-class “civic core” of volunteers. This article draws on original qualitative research to argue that the delivery of recent youth volunteering policies has unintentionally reinforced participation within this group, rather than widening access to diverse populations including working-class young people. Drawing on interviews with volunteer recruiters, it is shown that the pressure to meet targets forces workers to recruit middle-class young people whose habitus allows them to fit instantly into volunteering projects. Furthermore, workers perceive working-class young people as recalcitrant to volunteering, thereby reinforcing any inhabited resistance, and impeding access to the benefits of volunteering.
This essay traces the development of the research enterprise, known as the social resources theory, which formulated and tested a number of propositions concerning the relationships between embedded resources in social networks and socioeconomic attainment. This enterprise, seen in the light of social capital, has accumulated a substantial body of research literature and supported the proposition that social capital, in terms of both access and mobilization of embedded resources, enhances the chances of attaining better statuses. Further, social capital is contingent on initial positions in the social hierarchies as well as on extensity of social ties. The essay concludes with a discussion of remaining critical issues and future research directions for this research enterprise.
Research regarding the roles of women in society and in political and social organizations is large, with scholars focusing on the likelihood of political and social engagement. However, few of these studies examine the influence of gender on participation in voluntary organizations by utilizing cross-national data. This study intends to analyze the influence of gender on the type of organization that an individual volunteers and on whether these volunteering habits are influenced by the gender equality in a country. Is there segregation in the type of organizations men and women volunteer? Do women in more gender equal societies have similar volunteering patterns as men, or does the difference continue in volunteering? For this study, we use the World Values Survey from 1999 to 2002, to identify the differences in the types of organizations that men and women volunteer and discuss the impact gender equality has on these volunteering patterns.
Using data from the European Values Study, this study applies the dominant status model of volunteering introduced by Smith (1994) to explain volunteering in Nordic countries. Consistent with the dominant status model, male gender, being married, and high educational attainment are important predictors of volunteering. However, this study also finds that in Nordic countries, neither income nor employment status has a statistically significant effect on an individual’s decision to volunteer.
Neoliberalism, stemming from the musings of the Mont Pelerin Society after the Second World War, meant a model of liberalization, commodification, individualism, the privatization of social policy as well as production, and – least appreciated – the systematic dismantling of institutions and mechanisms of social solidarity. From the late 1970s onwards, it meant the painful construction of a global market system, in which the globalization era was the disembedded phase of the Global Transformation, analogous to a similar phase in Karl Polanyi’s Great Transformation. In both cases, the disembedded phase was dominated by financial capital, generating chronic insecurities and inequalities. But whereas Polanyi was analysing the construction of national markets, the Global Transformation is about the painful construction of a global market system.
One consequence has been the emergence of a global class structure superimposed on national structures. In order to move towards a re-embedded phase, it is essential to understand the character of the class fragmentation, and to conceptualize the emerging mass class-in-the-making, the precariat. This is a controversial concept, largely because traditional Marxists dispute its class character. However, it is analytically valuable to differentiate it, since it has distinctive relations of production, relations of distribution and relations to the state. It is still a class-in-the-making rather than a class-for-itself. But it is the new dangerous class because it is a force for transformation, rejecting both labourist social democracy and neoliberalism. It has a distinctive consciousness, although it is this that holds it back from being sufficiently a class-for-itself. It is still divided, being at war with itself. However, it has moved out of its primitive rebel phase, and in the city squares around the world is setting a new progressive agenda based on its insecurities and aspirations.
Young people are increasingly required to demonstrate civic engagement in their communities and help deliver the aspirations of localism and Big Society. Using an ecological systems approach this paper explores the experiences of different groups of young people living in areas of socio-economic disadvantage. Using volunteering as an example of civic engagement it is shown that barriers and motivators for young people stem from within the micro, meso, exo and macrosystems, and that these interact with each other, and with bio-psychological factors within individuals, to bring about differential opportunities and outcomes for young people. Through examining the experiences of three different groups of young people placed within socio-economically disadvantaged communities, considerable variation in levels of civic engagement are identified and it is suggested that some young people's lived experiences are resulting in decisions to civically disengage. It is argued that young people need to benefit from genuine opportunities to develop self-efficacy if they are to respond to the demands of Big Society aspirations for localised decision-making.
This article evaluates the participatory citizenship of Australian young people. Its argument is that in the utilisation of empirical research 'contemporary citizenship needs to recognise what people actually do' (R. Prokhovnik, Feminist Review 60(2) 1998: 95). For this research, an alternative approach to the exploration of participation has been developed which questions the traditional, institutionalised measures of political participation and/or notions of civic engagement that do not look at a broad range of individual and organisational experiences. The article is based on a survey of 18-34-year-old Australians conducted via telephone, by Newspoll Market Research, in early 2001. The article shows that rather than 'Generation X' having homogeneous (or even negligible) participatory experiences, four distinct participatory typologies emerge. These four typologies are labelled as Activist, Communitarian, Party and Individualistic to reflect the clustered modes of participation. The article also explores the relationships between participation and the discussion of political and social issues.
We construct an integrated theory of formal and informal volunteer work based on the premises that volunteer work is (1) productive work that requires human capital, (2) collective behavior that requires social capital, and (3) ethically guided work that requires cultural capital. Using education, income, and functional health to measure human capital, number of children in the household and informal social interaction to measure social capital, and religiosity to measure cultural capital, we estimate a model in which formal volunteering and informal helping are reciprocally related but connected in different ways to different forms of capital. Using two-wave data from the Americans' Changing Lives panel study, we find that formal volunteering is positively related to human capital, number of children in the household, informal social interaction, and religiosity. Informal helping, such as helping a neighbor, is primarily determined by gender, age, and health. Estimation of reciprocal effects reveals that formal volunteering has a positive effect on helping, but helping does not affect formal volunteering.
Previous research has suggested that volunteering may have beneficial developmental consequences for adolescents. However, the sparse research on youth volunteerism is generally limited by a cross-sectional design that does not elucidate causal relations. This study addresses the questions, "Who participates in volunteer work?" and "What are the effects of youth volunteerism?" A panel study of a representative community sample of both volunteers and nonvolunteers indicates that those adolescents who become involved in volunteer activities have higher educational plans and aspirations, higher grade point averages, higher academic self-esteem, and a higher intrinsic motivation toward school work. But irrespective of these bases of selection, there is evidence that volunteering affects important work-related and social outcomes. Volunteering is found to strengthen intrinsic work values and the anticipated importance of community involvement and to decrease the anticipated importance of career.
Prior research has found that several types of social networks-social and associational ties, religious involvement, and recruitment contacts-promote volunteering. This article extends the literature by examining whether social tie diversity matters for volunteering and whether the effects of social networks are conditional on being recruited or not. Using the 1999 Giving and Volunteering Survey, the authors estimated probit models of being asked to volunteer and volunteering. The results show that social tie diversity, the number of associational ties, and religious involvement are each associated with recruitment. Recruitment itself is an important predictor of volunteering. Religious involvement is associated with higher probabilities of volunteering conditional on being asked, whereas social tie diversity and the number of associational ties increase volunteering among those not asked. The results indicate that associations between social networks and volunteering depend on both recruitment and whether these relationships create bridging versus bonding social capital.
This article addresses the subject of children's citizenship in liberal democracies. While children may lack full capability to act in the capacity of citizens, the political status to which they have been relegated leaves much to be desired. Paternalist policies dictate that children be represented politically by their parents, leaving them as or more vulnerable and excluded from private life as women were under coverture. Lacking independent representation or a voice in politics, children and their interests often fail to be understood because the adults who do represent them conflate, or substitute, their own views for those of children. Compounding this damage is the tendency for democratic societies to view children not as an ever-present segment of the populace, but rather as future adults. This encourages disregard for children's interests. Until democratic societies establish a better-defined and comprehensive citizenship for children, along with methods for representation that are sensitive to the special political circumstances faced by children, young people will remain ill-governed and neglected by democratic politics.
This panel study examines whether educational, work, and family roles promote volunteerism during late adolescence and early
adulthood, as they do later in adulthood. The findings reveal substantial continuity in volunteerism from adolescence through
the transition to adulthood and highlight the importance of values expressed in adolescence for volunteerism in the years
following. Controlling these processes, attending school during this life stage promotes volunteerism. In contrast, full-time
work investments in the early life course are found to hinder volunteer participation, as does the presence of young children
in the family, especially at earlier parental ages. The results support a life course perspective for understanding civic
participation.
I use a volunteer process model to organize a review of recent research on volunteerism, focusing mainly on journal articles reporting survey research results. Scholars from several different disciplines and countries have contributed to a body of work that is becoming more theoretically sophisticated and methodologically rigorous. The first stage of the process model-antecedents of volunteering-continues to attract the most attention but more and more scholars are paying attention to the third stage, the consequences of volunteering, particularly with respect to health benefits. The middle stage-the experience of volunteering-remains somewhat neglected, particularly the influence of the social context of volunteer work on the volunteer's satisfaction and commitment.
Bound to the notion of teenage apathy is the concern that young people are increasingly disengaged from political and community issues and lacking in social capital. Voting is often regarded as the ultimate form of civic engagement, which implicitly excludes young teenagers from consideration through their status as non-voters. Teenagers’ alternative forms of participation are rarely valued as legitimate acts of civic engagement. As a result, many of the dominant writers on social capital neglect teenagers’ abilities to generate and utilize social capital. Drawing on a three-year research project undertaken with over 600 teenagers aged 13–16, this paper uses three illustrative examples to highlight the ways in which teenagers deploy their social capital in order to transform people and places in two key ways. Firstly, teenagers’ alternative forms of civic engagement are highlighted, demonstrating the ways in which many (re)shape their environments by, for example, campaigning for skate park facilities. Secondly, teenagers’ alternative understandings of community, many of which are associated with lifestyle choices, are explored. In doing so, the paper brings to the fore the significance of teenagers’ social capital.
The recruitment of young people into volunteering activities is the primary focus of this article. We examine which teenagers volunteer, the ways that teenagers become involved in volunteer activities, and why teenagers do not volunteer. Teenagers who volunteer tend to have dominant status, that is, access to social power, high personal competency, and socialization into volunteer experiences through family, church, and school. Personal contact with family, friends, and teachers who are involved with service, prior participation in school- and church-based service, and personal initiative lead teenagers to learn about and engage in volunteering activities. Teenagers who do not volunteer often do not have sufficient time or interest. Differences exist among teenagers as to which factors prompt volunteering. For example, teenagers who are white, have parents who volunteer, and attend religious services are more likely than others to learn about volunteer activities through organizations, and teenagers with higher personal competency (grade point averages) are more likely than others to learn about volunteering activities at school. The article includes suggestions for recruitment policy and management of teenage volunteers.
This analytic review focuses on theory and research on volunteerism. First, we define volunteerism as freely chosen helping activities that extend over time and that are often performed through organizations and on behalf of receptive causes or individuals. Next, we link these definitional features to the Volunteer Process Model, which depicts volunteerism as a process with three sequential and interactive stages (antecedents, experiences, and consequences) and at multiple levels of analysis. Then, we use this model to organize the empirical literature on volunteerism and selected work on social movements. Finally, we discuss implications for social policy issues relevant to individuals, organizations, communities, and societies.
Three principal modes of civic involvement are volunteering, giving to charities, and participating in civic associations. The authors investigate how total effort is distributed in the Canadian population among these three behaviors. Their results show that in each area, there is a small group of individuals who is responsible for the majority of contributory effort. When activity in the three areas is considered all together, the authors find a remarkably high degree of concentration. Six percent of Canadian adults account for 35% to 42% of all civic involvement. This group of individuals represents the "civic core" in Canada. The implications of the existence of a small but dedicated civic core for the voluntary domain and for patterns of citizen engagement are discussed.
This paper examines racial differences in participation in voluntary associations. It extends past research by accounting for the influence of neighborhood poverty on participation. Using unique data from the 1993–94 Los Angeles Survey of Urban Inequality (LASUI), the analysis reveals that neighborhood poverty influences the number of associations to which individuals belong, even when considering differences in personal and other residential characteristics. Moreover, once the negative influence of neighborhood poverty is taken into account, blacks participate in more voluntary associations than do whites and other groups, while Asians participate the least. Evidence supports the ethnic community theory of blacks' greater participation, as blacks living in black communities participate in more organizations, particularly in ones that are political, than blacks who do not.
Today, the life course perspective is perhaps the pre-eminent theoretical orientation in the study of lives, but this has
not always been the case. The life histories and future trajectories of individuals and groups were largely neglected by early
sociological research. In the pioneering study, The Polish Peasant in Europe and America (1918-1920), W. I. Thomas (with Florian Znaniecki) first made use of such histories and trajectories and argued strongly that they be
investigated more fully by sociologists. By the mid-1920s, Thomas was emphasizing the vital need for a “longitudinal approach
to life history” using life record data (Volkart, 1951, p. 593). He advocated that studies investigate “many types of individuals with regard to their experiences and various past periods
of life in different situations” and follow “groups of individuals into the future, getting a continuous record of experiences
as they occur.” Though this advice went unheeded for decades, Thomas’s early recommendations anticipated study of the life
course and longitudinal research that has become such a central part of modern sociology and other disciplines.
Abstract This essay traces the development of the research enterprise, known as the social resources theory, which formulated and tested a number of propositions concerning the relationships between embedded resources in social networks and socioeconomic attainment. This enterprise, seen in the light of social capital, has accumulated a substantial body of research literature and supported the proposition that social capital, in terms of both access and mobilization of embedded resources, enhances the chances of attaining better statuses. Further, social capital is contingent on initial positions in the social hierarchies as well as on extensity of social ties. The essay concludes with a discussion of remaining critical issues and future research directions for this research enterprise.
About the book: From women's rights, civil rights, and sexual rights for gays and lesbians to disability rights and language rights, we have experienced in the past few decades a major trend in Western nation-states towards new claims for inclusion. This trend has echoed around the world: from the Zapatistas to Chechen and Kurdish nationalists, social and political movements are framing their struggles in the languages of rights and recognition, and hence, of citizenship. Citizenship has thus become an increasingly important axis in the social sciences. Social scientists have been rethinking the role of political agent or subject. Not only are the rights and obligations of citizens being redefined, but also what it means to be a citizen has become an issue of central concern. As the process of globalization produces multiple diasporas, we can expect increasingly complex relationships between homeland and host societies that will make the traditional idea of national citizenship problematic. As societies are forced to manage cultural difference and associated tensions and conflict, there will be changes in the processes by which states allocate citizenship and a differentiation of the category of citizen. This book constitutes the most authoritative and comprehensive guide to the terrain. Drawing on a wealth of interdisciplinary knowledge, and including some of the leading commentators of the day, it is an essential guide to understanding modern citizenship.
"From women's rights, civil rights, and sexual rights for gays and lesbians to disability rights and language rights, we have experienced in the past few decades a major trend in Western nation-states towards new claims for inclusion. This trend has echoed around the world: from the Zapatistas to Chechen and Kurdish nationalists, social and political movements are framing their struggles in the languages of rights and recognition, and hence, of citizenship. Citizenship has thus become an increasingly important axis in the social sciences. Social scientists have been rethinking the role of political agent or subject. Not only are the rights and obligations of citizens being redefined, but also what it means to be a citizen has become an issue of central concern. As the process of globalization produces multiple diasporas, we can expect increasingly complex relationships between homeland and host societies that will make the traditional idea of national citizenship problematic. As societies are forced to manage cultural difference and associated tensions and conflict, there will be changes in the processes by which states allocate citizenship and a differentiation of the category of citizen. This book constitutes the most authoritative and comprehensive guide to the terrain. Drawing on a wealth of interdisciplinary knowledge, and including some of the leading commentators of the day, it is an essential guide to understanding modern citizenship."
We propose that volunteers' attachment to their work is determined by the level of resources they bring to it, the rewards they derive from it, and the context in which the work is carried out. We test this theory using two waves of the Americans' Changing Lives panel study (1986–1989). The resources part of the theory is supported: the likelihood of remaining in the volunteer labor force across the two waves is greater for the more highly educated, those who report higher rates of formal and informal social interaction, and those who have children in the household—the last effect is stronger for women. Respondents reporting an increase in regular working hours across the two waves are more likely to cease volunteering. However, declining functional ability has no effect on attachment. The reward part of the theory is not consistently supported. Commitment to volunteer work in the first wave (measured by hours volunteered) predicts being a volunteer in the second, but enjoying the work has no effect, and being satisfied with the results of the work decreases attachment. Compared to a number of other work contexts, church-related volunteering in the first wave is the strongest predictor of being a volunteer in the second. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45654/1/11206_2004_Article_411154.pdf
In this article, I investigate the strength of intergenerational transmission of volunteering for non-profit associations in The Netherlands. Data from the Family Survey of the Dutch Population 2000 reveal that there are significant relations between current volunteering and parental volunteering in the past. While the transmission of volunteering for religious and quasi-religious (‘pillarized’) associations is due largely to the transmission of religion and social status from parents to their children, parental volunteering for pillarized associations has increased the likelihood of children’s volunteering for secular associations, even controlling for parental and children’s religion, education, wealth and personality characteristics. Consistent with a value internalization explanation, this spillover effect was not due to the direct social pressure of parents.
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