Attitudes to voluntary action

This chapter reviews existing research on attitudes to voluntary action. Despite the importance of this topic, public attitudes have received even less consistent consideration over time than voluntary action itself. This chapter summarises information from the National Survey of Volunteering (1981 and 1991) and the British Social Attitudes Surveys (from the 1990s) on the virtues of voluntarism, and the relationship between voluntary action and government policy. However, given the later gaps in the statistical record, the emphasis in the chapter is firmly upon two key Mass Observation Project directives, implemented 16 years apart, in 1996 and 2012. Writers have a strong sense of where the boundary should lie between statutory responsibility and voluntary initiative; and demonstrate particular concerns of and criticisms about the use of volunteers to substitute for paid staff, and to undercut the position of the lowest-paid members of society. Writers also discuss strong concerns about the ways in which governments take the contribution of volunteers for granted, leading to scepticism about individual and community capacities to take on further social responsibilities. We argue that the rationales on which appeals for greater voluntary effort are made are crucial to the success of these appeals.

Volunteering trajectories: individual patterns of volunteering over the lifecourse

This chapter examines the evidence for individual patterns of volunteering behaviour, tracking the trajectories into and out of volunteering of BHPS/US participants, and the Mass Observation Project (MOP) writers, over time. The chapter focuses on the strengths of using a longitudinal, lifecourse approach, demonstrating that this enables us to identify a much larger proportion of individuals as being involved in voluntary action than can be identified when using cross-sectional surveys. This type of approach also enables us to identify considerable individual movement in and out of volunteering over time. We examine the volunteering lifecourses of MOP writers and show that more than a fifth of writers had stayed committed to an individual organisation or cause; and more than half regularly swapped the roles or domains in which they volunteered. We argue that individual volunteering patterns evolve, change, or continue across the lifecourse, and that it is better to resist categorising people as volunteers, ex-volunteers, or non-volunteers, which can act as a barrier to conceptualising volunteering patterns.

Trends in volunteering and trends in the voluntary sector

This chapter assesses the degree of consistency and change in levels of voluntary action, using survey data from 1981 through to 2016; and considers both formal and informal volunteering. The key conclusion is that there has been a relatively stable level of engagement, especially in formal volunteering. In contrast, there is more evidence of fluctuation, especially in the post-2008 recessionary period – in the level of engagement in informal volunteering. Despite the optimism expressed by government ministers, there has been no decisive upward shift in engagement in volunteering. The chapter then uses the Mass Observation Project material to probe further into individual understandings of voluntary action. The material demonstrates that respondents do not always recognise the terminologies used in social surveys, often neglect to report an activity that might be characterised as volunteering, and tend to prioritise their commitments to informal care of family members and neighbours (issues which are largely not included in official survey definitions of voluntary action). Finally, the chapter presents data on the trends in the British voluntary sector since 1979, and shows that, while the level of voluntary action undertaken by individuals has remained unchanged, the scale of the voluntary sector has expanded in significant ways.

Data: sources and definitions

This chapter describes and briefly evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the sources of evidence on voluntary action used in this book, and the challenges faced when using a mixed-methods approach. The chapter discusses the derivation of quantitative estimates of levels of volunteering and considers the challenges in analysing volunteering levels over time due to of variations in methodology and discontinuities in the availability of survey data. The chapter goes on to describe the source of qualitative data, writing undertaken by Mass Observation Project (MOP) volunteer writers and considers the advantages and limitations of this source. The chapter proceeds to a discussion of the challenges of mixed-methods work using these diverse sources. While MOP respondents can clearly be said to be active citizens, by the same token, this means that they are not typical of the general population, when compared to national social surveys drawing on respondents who are representative of the population. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the various datasets are brought into dialogue with one another, and of the value of mixing data and methods of analysis.

The changing policy environment for voluntary action from 1979

This chapter analyses post-1979 changes in the British political and policy environment for volunteering and voluntary action. It distinguishes between government policy measures targeted at voluntary action by individuals, proposals to encourage the development of voluntary organisations, and the government’s institutionalisation of the voluntary sector by bringing the sector into public policy deliberation. The chapter demonstrates variations in the underlying motivations for government policy, showing how different government administrations have sought to solve certain problems through voluntary action. The chapter draws primarily upon public sources, but also upon archival records of central government deliberations. There has been strong continuity between governments, but there have also been significant differences in the emphasis these have placed on particular elements of policy. All post-1979 governments have supported voluntary action by individuals, at least rhetorically. This chapter identifies differences, however, in relation to how these various governments sought to promote voluntary action; and in how they engaged with voluntary organisations in supporting public policy.

Conclusions

This chapter reflects on the main findings of this book, and place these in a broader context by reflecting on their practical implications and relevance. A key issue is what the evidence tells us about whether voluntary action constitutes a genuinely renewable resource for social development, in a context of rising demand for it. The findings point to both challenges and opportunities. There is a strong and stable base of committed volunteers, and a majority of the adult population already engages to a significant degree (taking a broad definition of voluntary action, to include both formal and informal activities). An expansion of voluntary action is, however, challenging in the context of difficult economic circumstances faced by individuals, the growing need for care of elderly relatives as a result of pressures on the welfare system, and the reductions in public funding. Volunteers are not going to come forward simply in response to austerity measures. Persuading people to engage at all, or to a greater degree, requires a clear message about the intrinsic rewards of voluntary action and arrangements which enable people to fit voluntary action around their everyday lives. Essentially, this is about thinking about policy in a wider frame of reference than incentives and nudges towards pro-social behaviour. Instead, we might ask how economic policy and society might be managed to maximise opportunities for engagement.

Why people volunteer: contextualising motivation

The central argument of this chapter is that there are multiple and complex explanations as to why people decide to volunteer or not volunteer, and why they choose a specific volunteering domain and role. Volunteers are often not consciously aware of some of their motives for taking part in volunteering. An individual’s choice as to whether to volunteer, and how to volunteer, is founded on a complex range of different influences, triggers, desires and needs, that may affect them throughout their lives, and are contingent on that individual’s personal circumstances, skills, values, identity and personality, and changes therein, over their lifecourse. The chapter draws on survey data on the motives and benefits people attributed to volunteering during the timeframe of the study; however, it relies on the accounts of Mass Observation Project writers to more fully explore these issues. It examines influences such as parental role-modelling and guidance; childhood volunteering; value systems; being asked; the need for therapeutic activities, leisure, and career advancement; and the need to belong. It also considers some of the negative influences and triggers that can result in would-be volunteers refusing to take part, feelings of coercion, and people becoming disillusioned in their volunteering.

Content and context of volunteering

This chapter explores the content and context of engagement in voluntary action in contemporary Britain. It finds that, over the last 30 years, the pattern of engagement in voluntary action has remained stable, in relation to specific causes supported, and types of tasks undertaken. However, voluntary effort is highly concentrated within a ‘civic core’ of volunteers. The distribution of volunteers is highly stratified; those most likely to engage in formal, organisational roles tend to be those with high levels of economic, social and cultural capital. Using Mass Observation Project (MOP) material the chapter examines the content and context of individual volunteering and finds that MOP writers contribute a complex mix of different voluntary activities. However, many do not immediately recognise their contribution as volunteering, which leads us to question how surveys can successfully capture different types of voluntary engagement. MOP writing also points to the very blurred boundary between informal care and informal volunteering. The chapter finds that MOP writers’ emphasis on familial commitments is a striking feature of their accounts of unpaid work and of voluntary activity; yet this has been largely absent from public discussion about volunteering rates.

Introduction

This chapter sets the scene for the book by noting the political and policy salience of issues around voluntary action in contemporary Britain before providing an overview of the literature on how and why people volunteer. The chapter acknowledges the diversity of definitions of volunteering and consdiers methodological challenges associated with the measurement of this activity. The debates on voluntary action to which this book contributes – the dominant paradigm, serious leisure and civil society perspectives will be outlined. This is followed by a consideration of interpretations of the meanings of and motivations for volunteering. The chapter, and book more widely, advocates a lifecourse approach, providing a longitudinal perspective on the place of volunteering in people’s lives. The chapter concludes with an outline of the key sources of data – particularly the rich qualitative material from the Mass Observation Project (MOP).