Volunteerism

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Volunteerism refers to a broad range of activities that benefit another person, group, or cause and that are carried out by individuals by their own choice and without pay. Individuals engaged in volunteerism are referred to as volunteers. Examples of volunteerism include serving on the board of a museum, organizing a protest meeting against environmental pollution, preparing food in a soup kitchen, caring for the elderly in a nursing home, looking after pets or mail for a neighbor, and the donation of blood at a blood center. However, also more controversial activities like distributing flyers for an extremist political party and providing shelter to illegal immigrants may qualify as examples of volunteerism.

A common distinction is made between formal and informal volunteerism. Formal volunteerism is carried out in an organization, usually a nonprofit organization. Informal volunteerism is not carried out in an organization and usually benefits specific individuals or groups with whom the volunteer has personal connections. Informal volunteerism is also called social support or helping behavior. Informal volunteerism that benefits colleagues or one’s employer is called organizational citizenship behavior.

In sociology and political science volunteerism is considered a form of civic engagement and an expression of cohesion or social capital in society (Putnam 2000). Formal volunteerism has received more attention in these disciplines than informal volunteerism, although the two are related empirically (Wilson and Musick 1997). The focus on formal volunteerism is apparent in the frequent measurement of engagement in voluntary associations in general household surveys. These surveys contain lists of types of organizations, for each of which the respondent answers to what extent he or she is engaged in the organization (not engaged, passive member, active member, volunteer). In some household surveys respondents report the frequency of informal helping behaviors. Informal volunteerism is commonly measured in questionnaires on social support networks. Respondents indicate whether they have people (“alters”) available to them with whom they discuss important matters (emotional support) or who can assist them in practical matters like small repairs (practical support).

Volunteerism is more common among married persons, whites, the middle-aged and elderly, the higher educated, more frequent church attendees, rural residents, children of volunteers, and extraverted persons (Bekkers 2005, 2007; Penner et al. 2005; Putnam 2000; Wilson 2000). Differences between whites and blacks differ from study to study (contrasting findings in Wilson and Musick 1997 and Carson 1987). Among other things, volunteerism is more common among the higher educated because they have more civic skills, more knowledge, and a stronger feeling of efficacy (Brady et al. 1995; Nie et al. 1996). Individuals with more civic skills and knowledge are more able to understand arguments, to express their views, and to convince others. These are useful qualities that lower the cost and increase the expected benefit of volunteerism. Individuals with a stronger feeling of efficacy are more likely to think their volunteerism makes a difference for the beneficiary of their volunteerism, which increases its expected benefit. Formal volunteerism in turn enhances civic skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy. Beyond paid work, voluntary associations are an important context in which people gain experience in organizing meetings, learn to understand others, and gain confidence in their abilities.

Volunteerism is also linked with a variety of other benefits. Volunteers are known to live longer and to be healthier in old age than nonvolunteers. In addition volunteerism contributes to mental health and may contribute to success in paid labor in the long run (Penner et al. 2005; Wilson and Musick 2000). At the macro level voluntary associations strengthen civil society and democracy (Putnam 2000).

Because of these benefits, schools increasingly include service learning and community service programs in their curricula. Completing a service learning program, which itself is usually not a form of volunteerism because it is obligatory, may promote civic skills and volunteerism in the future, depending on several characteristics of the program. More beneficial programs have a moderate level of freedom for pupils in selecting service activities, require a higher level of reflection from pupils, and are supervised by more enthusiastic teachers (Metz and Youniss 2005). Voluntary programs do not have more beneficial effects than required programs (Schmidt et al. 2006). Voluntary programs draw an audience that consists mostly of young people with a social background that facilitates volunteerism: parents volunteer themselves, are religious, and have higher socioeconomic status (Metz and Youniss 2005). Given that required service learning programs also have beneficial effects among youths from less-favorable backgrounds and perhaps even more so than among youths from advantageous backgrounds, required service learning programs may reduce social inequality in volunteerism and civic engagement in the long run.

SEE ALSO Altruism; Altruism and Prosocial Behavior; Associations, Voluntary; Civil Society; Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs); Philanthropy; Prevention Science; Putnam, Robert; Social Capital; Verba, Sidney; Volunteer Programs

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bekkers, René. 2005. Participation in Voluntary Associations: Relations with Resources, Personality, and Political Values. Political Psychology 26: 439–454.

Bekkers, René. 2007. Intergenerational Transmission of Volunteerism. Acta Sociologica 50 (2): 99–114.

Brady, Henry E., Sidney Verba, and Kay Lehman Schlozman. 1995. Beyond SES: A Resource Model of Political Participation. American Political Science Review 89: 271–294.

Carson, Emmett D. 1987. The Charitable Activities of Black Americans: A Portrait of Self-Help? Review of Black Political Economy 15 (3): 100–111.

Metz, Edward C., and James Youniss. 2005. Longitudinal Gains in Civic Development through School-Based Required Service. Political Psychology 26 (3): 413–437.

Nie, Norman H., Jane Junn, and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry. 1996. Education and Democratic Citizenship in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Penner, Louis A., John F. Dovidio, Jane A. Piliavin, and David A. Schroeder. 2005. Prosocial Behavior: Multilevel Perspectives. Annual Review of Psychology 56: 365–392.

Putnam, Robert D. 2000. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Schmidt, Jennifer A., Lee Shumow, and Hayal Kackar. 2006. Adolescents’ Participation in Service Activities and Its Impact on Academic, Behavioral, and Civic Outcomes. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 35 (2): 127–140.

Wilson, John. 2000. Volunteering. Annual Review of Sociology 26: 215–240.

Wilson, John, and Marc A. Musick. 1997. Who Cares? Toward an Integrated Theory of Volunteer Work. American Sociological Review 62: 694–713.

Wilson, John, and Marc A. Musick. 2000. The Effects of Volunteering on the Volunteer. Law and Contemporary Problems 62: 141–168.

René Bekkers

VOLUNTEER WORK

Volunteer work offers an opportunity for individuals and communities to engage in activities that affect the common good of society. For young people, volunteer work provides a way to gain a variety of useful skills, to understand the community in which they live, and to enhance community life. The community, in turn, fosters the development of a citizenry that is involved in creating a better democracy.

There is an increasing emphasis in schools on the development of character in students, through the study of community issues, actions to address these issues, and reflection on the experience. Many schools are moving students from volunteerism to service-learning initiatives within the curriculum so that students at all levels can develop cooperation, empathy, citizenship, and self-esteem. For example, the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 mandates graduation requirements that emphasize application and integration of community-service work and learning.

Elementary and secondary schools have devised a variety of ways to integrate volunteerism into their schools and community. In some cases, students are left to their own motivations to engage in service to the community through acts of volunteerism. These volunteer experiences can take the form of a onetime involvement in a community agency or event, or can result in a sustained relationship over a period of time with a particular service organization in the community.

Many schools have moved from an emphasis on volunteerism to an involvement by students that connect their service with the curriculum. For example, one elementary school focuses on service to the elderly. As part of the history curriculum, a history of the community was produced after students interviewed older citizens and created a collection of their stories. In art classes, the students produced artwork as gifts for senior members of the community. In math, students helped older adults with grocery shopping, and older adults were able to help students with math problems that arose regarding product pricing.

Some schools have made service a requirement for graduation, though there is debate regarding the merits of requiring service of all students. Some believe that schools should encourage service, but not make it a requirement and that required service is a contradiction in terms. Others argue that service is a responsibility, a debt due to society, and that it is every citizen's civic duty to contribute to the community. Volunteer service requirements vary from having students enroll in a service class in addition to spending a certain amount of hours in a service activity, while other schools require only the service commitment.

Another approach to engage students in volunteer activities is for the school and an organization to partner in a common initiative. Community organizations that have an investment in fostering a service ethic among a new generation of citizens should be sought out by schools for a partnership.

Engaging students with underserved populations and diverse populations in a community usually builds bridges that link the students with individuals and initiatives with whom they might otherwise never have the opportunity to develop and nurture relationships of understanding and reciprocity. Experiences of this nature enable students to ascertain community assets and needs and gain perspective on how to cooperatively develop community-building initiatives. It can also help students understand issues of social injustice and move them toward moral deliberation and critical thinking about societal issues.

Another option schools have implemented is in-school service. Many programs look within the school community for service activities. Cross-age tutoring, school improvement projects, and mentoring are examples of beneficial student service activities.

Institutions of higher education look to create an "engaged campus," where boundaries are blurred between campus and community, and between knowledge and practice. A campus that is engaged with the surrounding community is not just located in a community, but is connected in an intimate way to the public purposes and aspirations of community life itself.

Many campuses also distinguish between acts of volunteerism and academic service-learning experiences. Offices of volunteer activities on college campuses work with community partners to enlist students to provide much needed hands-on aid to the community. These experiences are authorized and supported by the institution in order to contribute to an organized, efficient, effective, and sustainable effort with students and the community. Many of the social organizations on college campuses include volunteerism as a part of their mission of service. In addition, many students act out of their own intrinsic motivation and sense of civic responsibility to become active volunteers in their community.

While volunteerism is supported and promoted in the student affairs divisions of colleges and universities, academic service-learning is being strongly integrated into the curricular offerings of institutions of higher education. Service-learning usually has a two-fold goal: (1) meeting community needs and providing meaningful learning experiences for the students; and (2) enlivening the public service mission of the institution while becoming engaged in the life of the local community.

Volunteerism does not necessarily produce the same outcomes as a service-learning component in the curriculum. When service learning is integrated into the curriculum, it is desired that students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service in the community, and that this service meets the needs of the community, is coordinated with school and community activities, helps foster civic responsibility, is integrated into the academic curriculum or educational components of community service programs, and provides structured time for students to reflect on the service experience.

Volunteerism and academic service learning are considered important components in the educational process for building a stronger democracy. Emphasis on curricular and extracurricular means of moving students toward civic engagement has become a focal point of teaching and learning in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions.

See also: Community Education; Experiential Education; Service Learning.

bibliography

Community Service/Service Learning: An Implementor's Guide and Resource Manual. 1996. ERIC Document ED 399239.

Duckenfield, Marty, and Wright Jan, eds. 1995. Pocket Guide to Service Learning. Clemson, SC: National Dropout Prevention Center.

Feltman, Carl I. 1994. Service Learning for All Students. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation.

Gugerty, Catherine R., and Swezey, Erin D. 1996. "Developing Campus-Community Relationships." In Service Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices, ed. Barbara Jacoby. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Hollander, Elizabeth. 1998. "Picturing the Engaged Campus." In Service Matters, ed. Michael Rothman. Providence, RI: Campus Compact.

Sharon Shields

Brad Gray

VOLUNTEERISM

VOLUNTEERISM may be defined as contributing one's time or talents for charitable, educational, social, political, or other worthwhile purposes, usually in one's community, freely and without regard for compensation. Since the seventeenth century, Americans have shaped their nation by their voluntary efforts: providing services, organizing political action, caring for the poor, reaching out to the disadvantaged, providing education, ensuring equality and civil rights for all citizens, and working for change.

Too numerous to count, American voluntary efforts have served many purposes. For example, thousands of Americans have contributed their resources to achieve political ends, providing invaluable service in times of war. During the Revolution men formed committees of correspondence to keep the colonies in constant contact; joined militias, like the Minutemen of Concord, to fight the British army; and organized the Boston Tea Party, a raid on ships in Boston Harbor, during which crates of

expensive tea were thrown overboard to protest taxes imposed by the crown. At the same time, women used their economic power to boycott luxury items and cloth imported from Britain, producing their own goods for their family's needs. During the Revolution and later wars, women visited hospitals and prisons, rolled bandages, organized food drives, nursed soldiers, and sometimes worked as spies. In the nineteenth century, African Americans and white Americans undertook the dangerous task of moving escaped slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Children volunteered also, contributing their pennies and participating in drives to conserve food, clothing, and other resources. Americans continue to volunteer for political purposes by joining the military, working for political parties at elections, participating in voting drives, organizing block associations, protesting, marching, lobbying, and raising funds.

Volunteers have also provided relief to people in need. At first, citizens willingly organized to provide a service for their town or county. In the nineteenth century, public need began to overwhelm local resources. Women then seized the opportunity to become actively engaged in public life and policy. They organized, built, and maintained shelters for the homeless, soup lines, orphanages, homes for single mothers and abandoned children, and hospitals for the needy. Often established by religious and ethnic groups, these institutions assisted individuals and families, filling in the gaps that government did not have the authority or ability to cover. Similarly, from slavery through the beginning of the twenty-first century, African Americans have organized to provide relief, churches, burial, and religious instruction for their communities. Children have helped raise funds in their neighborhoods for schools, missions, and foreign aid organizations like UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). Volunteers continue to visit and nurse the sick, offer food to the hungry, clean up after disasters, build homes, give blood, raise money, and publicize the needs of others.

The volunteer force in the early 2000s was as large as it was diverse. Americans of every age, race, religion, and ethnic group contributed their time and abilities to local communities as well as to the nation. People worked independently and through organizations that coordinated volunteers to help provide healthcare, accessible public transportation, and decent schools and to support urban revitalization, public information, recycling, environmental protection, religious missions, and charities, among many other efforts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ellis, Susan J., and Katherine H. Noyes. By the People: A History of Americans as Volunteers. Revised ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990.

Trattner, Walter I. From Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America. 6th ed. New York: Free Press, 1999.

Wuthnow, Robert, Virginia A. Hodgkinson, and Associates. Faith and Philanthropy in America: Exploring the Role of Religion in America's Voluntary Sector. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990.

Regina M.Faden

See alsoAmericorps ; Peace Corps ; Philanthropy ; Welfare System .

Volunteers, a part‐time military force raised by local initiative during 1778–9. Its original purpose was to guard against invasion and to preserve law and order, at a time when regular troops had been removed to combat the American Revolution, and government lacked the money to revive the militia. Numbers rose from an estimated 12,000 in spring 1779 to 40,000 by September and to over 60,000 by May 1782. Members were drawn mainly from the urban and rural middle classes; officers, though elected by the rank and file, were generally from the gentry and aristocracy. The movement soon took on a wider political importance, both as the expression of an emerging middle‐class consciousness and as the basis of a new kind of organized extra‐parliamentary support for popular causes. Grattan, the duke of Leinster (see kildare), and other patriots took leading positions in the Volunteers, and under their leadership the movement played a central part in the campaign during 1779 for free trade. During 1780–2 the Volunteers gave continued support to the more militant patriots, their Convention at Dungannon (Feb. 1782) providing the starting point for the final, successful drive for legislative independence.

Following the Renunciation Act controversy the Volunteers, now under the leadership of Flood and Bishop Hervey, took up the issue of parliamentary reform. A Volunteer National Convention in Dublin (10 Nov.–2 Dec. 1783) drew up a detailed reform plan, but the House of Commons rejected bills based on its principles on 29 November and again on 21 March 1784. By this time the majority of the landed and parliamentary elite had reverted to open hostility towards the sort of ‘out of doors’ opinion represented by the Volunteers. During 1784 some Dublin radicals, notably Tandy, sought to broaden the base of the movement, recruiting growing numbers of working‐class Protestants, and also of Catholics, who had up to this point been largely excluded from the movement in deference to the continued legal prohibition on their bearing arms. However, this attempt to compensate for the loss of elite patronage by creating a mass movement proved ineffective. Meanwhile Charlemont, alarmed by signs that government might suppress Volunteering, successfully used his influence as commander‐in‐chief to damp down political agitation within the movement.

Enthusiasm for Volunteering recovered after 1789, as part of the general radical revival following the French Revolution. The early United Irishmen in particular looked to the resurgent movement as the instrument of reform, the staging of a third Dungannon convention (15–16 Feb. 1793) testifying to their hopes of repeating the triumphs of 1779–82. During 1793, however, the Gunpowder Act, prohibiting the import of arms, and the Convention Act effectively killed off Volunteering, while the raising of a new militia, followed by the yeomanry, removed its ostensible justification as a voluntary defence force.

Bibliography

O'Connell, M. R. , Irish Politics and Social Conflict in the Age of the American Revolution (1965)

volunteers. Since from time immemorial it had been regarded as the duty of citizens and free men to defend their country, governments could scarcely object if, in moments of crisis, volunteers came forward to offer their services. Yet they were not necessarily very efficient, often tiresome in their personal demands, and, as the case of the Irish volunteers suggests, a potential political threat. Henry Fox in 1745 doubted whether one should trust a man to raise a regiment who could not raise half a crown and Hanbury Williams wrote of the duke of Bolton that ‘he much dislikes both guns and pikes, but relishes the clothing’. Volunteer corps were raised by private donations, reinforced by public appeals, but, as weapons of war grew more sophisticated and expensive, governments had to find substantial assistance. A number of corps were raised in 1690 to deal with a threat of French invasion, again in 1715 and 1745 to cope with the Jacobite risings, and again in 1779 during the American War of Independence. But the biggest response was during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and again in 1859 when there was yet another threat of war with France. By 1901 there were 230,000 volunteers, augmented by the Royal Navy and Royal Artillery Volunteers, the militia and the yeomanry. Haldane's reforms of 1907 reorganized them into the Territorial Force, later the Territorial Army.

J. A. Cannon

vol·un·teer / ˌvälənˈtir/ • n. a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task. ∎  a person who works for an organization without being paid. ∎  a person who freely enrolls for military service rather than being conscripted, esp. a member of a force formed by voluntary enrollment and distinct from the regular army. ∎  a plant that has not been deliberately planted. ∎  Law a person to whom a voluntary conveyance or deposition is made. • v. [intr.] freely offer to do something: he volunteered for the job| I rashly volunteered to be a contestant. ∎  [tr.] offer (help) in such a way: he volunteered his services as a driver for the convoy. ∎  say or suggest something without being asked: [tr.] it never paid to volunteer information | [with direct speech] “Her name's Louise,” Christina volunteered. ∎  work for an organization without being paid. ∎  [tr.] commit (someone) to a particular undertaking, typically without consulting them: he was volunteered for parachute training by friends.

volunteers Since from time immemorial it had been regarded as the duty of free men to defend their country, governments could scarcely object if, in moments of crisis, volunteers came forward to offer their services. Yet they were not necessarily very efficient, often tiresome in their personal demands, and, as the case of the Irish volunteers suggests, a potential political threat. A number of corps were raised in 1690 to deal with a threat of French invasion, again in 1715 and 1745 to cope with the Jacobite risings, and again in 1779 during the American War of Independence. But the biggest response was during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and again in 1859 when there was yet another threat of war with France. By 1901 there were 230,000 volunteers, augmented by the Royal Navy and Royal Artillery Volunteers, the militia and the yeomanry. Haldane's reforms of 1907 reorganized them into the Territorial Force, later the Territorial Army.

Volunteer movement (Ireland). After France and Spain had entered the American War of Independence, many Irish volunteered to defend their country against invasion. By 1780, 40,000 were under arms. This also gave them political leverage which they used to wring concessions from the British government—first commercial advantages offered by North in 1780, then the repeal of Poynings's Law and the grant of legislative independence from the Rockinghams in 1782. But when the Volunteers moved on to discuss parliamentary reform, they split on the rock of the catholic question. The coming of peace in 1783 also deprived them of their tactical advantage and after the Dublin convention of November 1783, the movement faded rapidly.

J. A. Cannon

volunteer n.
1. a person who freely enrolls for military service rather than being conscripted, especially a member of a force formed by voluntary enrollment and distinct from the regular army.

2. a person who freely offers to take part in an enterprise or undertake a task.

3. a person who works for an organization without being paid.
v.
1. freely offer to do something: he volunteered for the job.

2. offer (help) in such a way: he volunteered his services as a driver for the convoy.

3. work for an organization without being paid.

4. commit (someone) to a particular undertaking, typically without consulting them: he was volunteered for parachute training by friends.

Volunteer movement (Ireland). After France and Spain had entered the American War of Independence, many Irish volunteered to defend their country against invasion. By 1780, 40,000 were under arms. This also gave them political leverage which they used to wring concessions from the British government—first commercial advantages offered by North in 1780, then the repeal of Poynings's Law and the grant of legislative independence from the Rockinghams in 1782. But when the Volunteers moved on to discuss parliamentary reform, they split on the rock of the catholic question.

volunteer one volunteer is worth two pressed men proverbial saying, early 18th century; a pressed man was someone forcibly enlisted by the press gang, a body of men which in the 18th and 19th centuries was employed to enlist men forcibly into service in the army or navy.
Volunteer State informal name for Tennessee, given in allusion to the large number of volunteers contributed by Tennessee to the Mexican War of 1847.

VOLUNTEERS

VOLUNTEERS. SeeConscription and Recruitment ; Enlistment .

volunteer •adhere, Agadir, appear, arrear, auctioneer, austere, balladeer, bandolier, Bashkir, beer, besmear, bier, blear, bombardier, brigadier, buccaneer, cameleer, career, cashier, cavalier, chandelier, charioteer, cheer, chevalier, chiffonier, clavier, clear, Coetzee, cohere, commandeer, conventioneer, Cordelier, corsetière, Crimea, dear, deer, diarrhoea (US diarrhea), domineer, Dorothea, drear, ear, electioneer, emir, endear, engineer, fear, fleer, Freer, fusilier, gadgeteer, Galatea, gazetteer, gear, gondolier, gonorrhoea (US gonorrhea), Greer, grenadier, hear, here, Hosea, idea, interfere, Izmir, jeer, Judaea, Kashmir, Keir, kir, Korea, Lear, leer, Maria, marketeer, Medea, Meir, Melilla, mere, Mia, Mir, mishear, mountaineer, muleteer, musketeer, mutineer, near, orienteer, pamphleteer, panacea, paneer, peer, persevere, pier, Pierre, pioneer, pistoleer, privateer, profiteer, puppeteer, queer, racketeer, ratafia, rear, revere, rhea, rocketeer, Sapir, scrutineer, sear, seer, sere, severe, Shamir, shear, sheer, sincere, smear, sneer, sonneteer, souvenir, spear, sphere, steer, stere, summiteer, Tangier, tear, tier, Trier, Tyr, veer, veneer, Vere, Vermeer, vizier, volunteer, Wear, weir, we're, year, Zaïre