Section 2: What are the main theoretical challenges in the study of volunteering?

We can summarize the key characteristics of volunteering as follows:

Volunteering is understood as an activity for the benefit of individuals and society that is:

• the result of free will,
• is unpaid
• is associated with the non-governmental and non-profit sectors.

However, if we focus on the experience of volunteering itself, on everyday practices, we can see that almost every one of these key characteristics of volunteering can be problematized and questioned.

In this section we’ll look in turn at theoretical challenges to these three key characteristics of volunteering, from the perspective of the empirical reality of volunteering and its everyday practices.

2.1 Does voluntary activity necessarily involve free will?

We’ll take three empirical cases to illustrate the problem of free will or choice of a person:

2.2 Is payment possible in volunteering?

We can also call into question the non-paid nature of voluntary activity, especially when there is a shift from spontaneous volunteering to volunteering as an established and partially formalized activity.

If we study volunteering from the perspective of a process model (with possible distinction of process steps such as antecedents, volunteering experiences and practices, consequences, [Musick and Wilson, 2008; Wilson, 2012]), we can see that there are different ways volunteering can develop.

This means that a few spontaneous acts of volunteering can become formalized activities on an ongoing basis.

This leads to the question of funding.

When voluntary activities become formalized and more stable, organizations will need to search for permanent sources of funding for staff working for them on a permanent basis.

This calls into question the definition of ‘pure’ volunteering as being non-paid in nature.

It also creates a dilemma for permanent volunteer staff members. Volunteers often share the view of the ‘altruistic’ nature of volunteering, but when fully engaged in it, they face basic problems of survival, budgeting for their own families, and become dependent on the budget cycles of project activities.

Projects are often financially supported by international funds on a project-by-project basis with standardized implementation and reporting cycles. All this makes the volunteers themselves, especially in war conditions, economically vulnerable and dependent on social expectations, in particular the perception of volunteering as a non-paid activity for the benefit of society.

2.3 What is the role of the non-governmental and non-profit sectors?

In this subsection we question the placing of volunteering in the same sector as civil society organizations and the artificial separation of their activities from the state.

In the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine since 2014, we can see the emergence of various forms of volunteer groups and charitable foundations.

These include foundations:

• initiated by individual activists;
• created by big business (which often turned out to be interested in its own managed charity or volunteer activities);
• set up by state structures.

These form a network of volunteer initiatives under the guidance of a managing structure, and so on.

We can also see many examples of active co-operation and interaction with state structures, where representatives of volunteer groups could be included as employees, members of committees and commissions, etc.

However, as one possible scenario, in systems where volunteering is initiated and supported by the state or corporations, volunteering often loses its political character and moves into the realm of apolitical assistance.

A group of volunteers in this case may be internally cohesive, but the actual scope of activity will be determined by the state or corporation.

Conversely, volunteering can also be a conscious and political choice of individuals in society due to socialization (involving an emphasis on the importance of altruism and social activism). This builds up the social and political capital of these groups, as well as their ability to influence policy and criticize the state, creating alternative solutions to the problems of the disadvantaged.

Review Exercise

In this section we’ve considered various challenges to the key elements of a ‘pure’ definition of volunteering. Before we move on to section 3, here is an exercise to consolidate your understanding so far.