Hostname: page-component-5d84bcc8dc-f9xd4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-09-12T07:18:27.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘At Least I Can Do Something’: The Work of Volunteering in a Community Beset by Worklessness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2008

Susan Baines  and
Irene Hardill
Susan Baines
Affiliation:
Reader in Social Policy, Manchester Metropolitan University E-mail: s.baines@mmu.ac.uk
Irene Hardill
Affiliation:
Professor of Economic Geography, Nottingham Trent University E-mail: irene.hardill@ntu.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The voluntary sector has been mainstreamed into public policy with consequences that include more reliance upon the time, commitment and skills of volunteers. In many policy initiatives to combat social exclusion, volunteering is cast as a form of self-improvement and re-training for the workforce. Qualitative research in a disadvantaged community, however, uncovered the persistence of more traditional forms of volunteering associated with mutual support and identification with the needs of others. Policies intended to broaden the base of the volunteer workforce need to recognise and nurture the intrinsic rewards of volunteering.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , July 2008 , pp. 307 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Beechey, V. (1987), Unequal Work, London: Verso.Google Scholar
Beneria, L. (1999), ‘The enduring debate over unpaid labour’, International Labour Review, 138, 287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackmore, A. (2005), The Reform of Public Services: The Role of the Voluntary Sector, London: NCVO.Google Scholar
Bruegel, I. (2000), ‘Getting explicit: gender and local economic development’, Local Economy, 15, 2–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CRESR (2002), ‘Hidden unemployment in the East Midlands’, The Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam, http://www.eastmidlandsobservatory.org.uk/ [Accessed December 2007]Google Scholar
Cabinet Office (2007), ‘The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration’, Final report, http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/upload/assets/www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/the_future_role_of_the_third_sector_in_economic_and_social_regeneration.pdf [Accessed December 2007]Google Scholar
Daly, M. (2002), ‘Care as a good for social policy’, Journal of Social Policy, 31, 251–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis Smith, J., Rochester, C. and Hedley, R. (eds) (1995), An Introduction to the Voluntary Sector, London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Devine, F. (2003), ‘A qualitative study of democracy and participation in Britain’, ESRC award L215252023, http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/ViewAwardPage.aspx?AwardId=35 [accessed August 2007].Google Scholar
Devine, F. and Roberts, J. (2003), ‘Alternative approaches to researching social capital: a comment on van Deth's measuring social capital’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 6, 93–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dex, S. (1991), Life and Work History Analysis: Qualitative and Quantitative Development, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Dolnica, S. and Randle, M. (2007), ‘What motivates which volunteers? Psychographic heterogeneity among volunteers in Australia’, Voluntas, 18, 135–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, M.E. and Smith, M.K. (1999), Born and Bred? Leadership, Heart and Informal Education, London: YMCA George Williams College/The Rank Foundation.Google Scholar
Evers, A. (2003), ‘Social capital and civic commitment: on Putnam's way of understanding’, Social Policy and Society, 2, 13–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glucksmann, M. (2000), Cottons and Casuals: The Gendered Organisation of Labour in Time and Space, Durham: Sociology Press.Google Scholar
Hardill, I. and Baines, S. (2003), ‘Doing one's duty? Volunteering, employment and unemployment in local economic development’, Local Economy, 18, 102–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardill, I. and Baines, S. (2006), ‘Doing one's duty: a case study of volunteering in a deprived community’, ESRC award RES-000-22-0592, http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/ViewAwardPage.aspx?AwardId=3183 [Accessed August 2007].Google Scholar
Hardill, I., Baines, S. and 6, P. (2007), ‘Volunteering for all? Explaining patterns of volunteering and identifying strategies to promote it’, Policy and Politics, 35, 395–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Himmelweit, S. (1995), ‘The discovery of “unpaid” work: the social consequences of the expansion of “work”’, Feminist Economics, 1, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HM Treasury (2002), The Role of the Voluntary and Community Sector in Service Delivery: A Cross-Cutting Review, London: HM Treasury.Google Scholar
Home Office (2004), Active Citizens, Strong Communities: Progressing Civil Renewal, London: Home Office.Google Scholar
House of Commons (2006), Select Committee on Public Accounts: Thirty-Second Report, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Hyatt, J. and England, J. (1995), Investing in the Heart of Change: The Case for Resourcing the Support and Development of Self Help Activities, London: NCVO.Google Scholar
Jochum, V., Pratten, B. and Wilding, K. (2005), Civil Renewal and Active Citizenship: A Guide to the Debate, NCVO, London.Google Scholar
Knapp, M., Vasiliki, K. and Davis Smith, J. (1995), Who Volunteers and Why? The Key Factors which Determine Volunteering, London: The Volunteer Centre.Google Scholar
Lister, R. (2002), ‘The dilemmas of pendulum politics: balancing paid work, care and citizenship’, Economy and Society, 31, 520–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, J. (1997), ‘Constructions of Rural Women's Voluntary Work’, Gender, Place and Culture, 4, 197–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, M., Sampson, A. and Shepherd, J. (2001), ‘Bowling along: community leaders in East London’, Voluntary Action, 3, 27–45.Google Scholar
Lupton, R. (2003), Poverty Street, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Merrell, J. (2000), ‘“You don't do it for nothing”: women's experiences of volunteering in two community well woman clinics’, Health and Social Care in the Community, 8, 31–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milligan, C. and Conradson, D. (2006), ‘Contemporary landscapes of welfare: the voluntary turn?’, in Landscapes of Voluntarism: New Spaces of Health, Welfare and Governance, Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 1–14.Google Scholar
Milligan, C. and Fyfe, N.R. (2004), ‘Putting the voluntary sector in its place: geographical perspectives on voluntary activity and social welfare in Glasgow’, Journal of Social Policy, 33, 73–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mumford, K. and Power, A. (2003), East Enders: Family and Community in East London, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Narushima, M. (2005), ‘Payback time: community volunteering among older adults as a transformative mechanism’, Ageing and Society, 25, 567–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oakley, A. (1974), The Sociology of Housework, London: Martin Robertson.Google Scholar
Omoto, A.M. and Snyder, M. (2002), ‘Considerations of community: the context and process of volunteerism’, American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 846–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pahl, R. (ed.) (1988), On Work: Historical, Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Parry, J.T., R. Pettinger, L. and Glucksmann, M. (2005), ‘Confronting new challenges of work today: new horizons and perspectives’, in Pettinger, L., Parry, J., Taylor, R.F. and Glucksmann, M.. (eds), A New Sociology of Work? Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Prochaska, F. (1988), The Voluntary Impluse: Philanthropy in Modern Britain, London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar
Putnam, R. (2000), Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
RNID (2004), Adding Value to Public Services, London.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. and Devine, F. (2004), ‘Some everyday experiences of voluntarism: social capital, pleasure, and the contingency of participation’, Social Politics, 11, 280–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, I. (2005), A National Framework for Youth Action and Engagement. www.russellcommission.orgGoogle Scholar
Sprigings, N. and Allen, C. (2005), ‘The communities we are regaining but need to lose’, Community, Work and Family, 8, 389–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stebbins, R.A. (1996), ‘Volunteering: a serious leisure perspective’, Non-profit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 25, 211–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, R.F. (2004), ‘Extending conceptual boundaries: work, voluntary work and employment’, Work, Employment and Society, 18, 29–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volunteer Development Scotland (2003), Research Findings Scotland 2, Stirling.Google Scholar
Wann, M. (1995), Building Social Capital: Self Help in a 21st Century Welfare State, London: Institute for Public Policy Research.Google Scholar
Wardell, F., Lishman, J. and Whalley, L. (2000), ‘Who volunteers?’, The British Journal of Social Work, 30, 227–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waring, M. (1988), If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics, London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Wheelock, J. and Jones, K. (2002), ‘“Grandparents are the next best thing”: informal childcare for working parents in urban Britain’, Journal of Social Policy, 31, 441–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheelock, J., Oughton, E. and Baines, S. (2003), ‘Getting by with a little help from the family: towards a policy-relevant model of the household’, Feminist Economics, 9, 19–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, C. (2002), ‘A critical evaluation of the commodification thesis’, Sociological Review, 50, 225–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, C. (2005), ‘Harnessing the community sector’, Community, Work and Family, 8, 37–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeung, A.-B. (2004), ‘The octagon model of volunteer motivation: results of a phenomenological analysis’, Voluntas – International Journal of Voluntary and Non-profit Organisations, 15, 21–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar