“By creating we think, by living we learn” Patrick Geddes
Recent years have witnessed growing interest in the third sector and volunteering. Against a background of concern at declining political participation, anxieties about welfare provision, and worries about the meaning of citizenship, increasing attention is being given to voluntary activity as a potential panacea to the problems of post-Fordism. Associated with this has been increased interest in social capital and norms of trust and reciprocity and claims for the relationship between volunteering and social capital, active citizenship and social inclusion.
There remains a concern that levels of formal volunteering (through organisations) are consistently higher among people in more affluent socio-economic categories and in more affluent neighbourhoods. This has resulted in policy initiatives to increase volunteering among groups normally less likely to volunteer. However, informal volunteering (volunteering outside an organisational setting which is often spontaneous and flexible) demonstrates distinctive characteristics, and it has been suggested that by focussing primarily on formal volunteering, policy stresses the model of social participation characteristic of more affluent populations. This raises the question of whether efforts to increase social inclusion through volunteering ought to consider informal volunteering, the evidence base on which is limited.
This ESRC CASE funded studentship, in conjunction with Volunteer Development Scotland, takes as its focus the patterns and practices of informal volunteering and their potential relationships with other, more formal forms of voluntary activity in marginal Scottish communities throughout the lifecourse. This study employs biographical interviews, key informant interviews and focus groups in three such communities to answer the following research questions:
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