The Volunteer Citizen After Welfare Reform in the United States: An Ethnographic Study of Volunteerism in Action

Volunteering in a Hybrid Institutional and Organizational Environment: An Emerging Research Agenda

“…Ilcan and Basok (2004), who studied Canadian voluntary agencies concerned with social justice issues and operating in a neoliberal policy context, also found that the majority of volunteers were involved in direct service delivery, but that voluntary agency representatives, themselves involved in public policy debate, did not encourage volunteers to become involved in advocacy work and to 'grasp the bigger picture'. Similar findings emerged from a study of middle class volunteers in a Family Partners Program in the US, who provided relational and instrumental social support to families in poverty (Bloom and Kilgore 2003). Although volunteers got a better insight into the structural causes of poverty and the impact of stigmatization, most volunteers still held normative, individualized rather than structural interpretations of poverty.…”

“…Program to alleviate poverty also had difficulties in building spontaneous and natural friendships with the clients, because they had to engage within a neoliberal policy framework that emphasized professional social work and surveillance (Bloom and Kilgore 2003).…”

“…In their study of a Family Program to alleviate poverty in the US, Bloom and Kilgore (2003) start from the observation of US government's increasing emphasis on neoliberal policy strategies, as reflected in its retreat from the provision of social services, and an increasing reliance on the nonprofit sector and volunteers. As a result, volunteering gets a new meaning and significance.…”

“…In some TSOs, volunteers are engaged to take up responsible and complex tasks (cf. Bloom and Kilgore 2003). In other TSOs a hierarchy is installed, with volunteers being excluded from decision-making roles and performing less risky or ancillary tasks, leaving the complex or more important tasks to paid staff members (cf.…”

The perfect fit? Being both volunteer and ethnographer in a UK foodbank

“…Much ethnographical research has documented the role of volunteers within organizations (Bloom and Kilgore, 2003;Martin, 2013;Lois, 2001;Portacolone, 2015;Wharton, 1991; and so on) but few draw specifically upon the role of the volunteer ethnographer. One exception is Tinney (2008, p. 222) who, in her role as a nursing home volunteer ethnographer, emphasizes the importance of maintaining boundaries and stresses that "this includes preservation of both physical and emotional energy, so that even when need is perceived, it cannot always be met".…”