The White Management of ‘Volunteering’: Ethnographic Evidence from an Israeli NGO

Shachar, Itamar

doi:10.1007/s11266-013-9398-x

Cited by 19 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Some of the studies we review propose that the work of purification particularly is successfully conducted by actors associated with class and racial privileges. By becoming versed in hybridization and purification work, privileged groups can realign around the promotion of volunteering, constituting it as a "white" project (Shachar, 2014) that can form a basis for their political projects of hegemony reproduction or restoration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A main track is through programs of corporate volunteering, in which companies offer their employees-on an individual or group basis-to take part in episodic or project-based volunteering activities, often hosted by or coordinated through nonprofit organizations (Basil, Runte, Easwaramoorthy, & Barr, 2009;Meijs & Van der Voort, 2004). However, corporations and business persons are also involved in encouraging public volunteering through funding and creating coalitions with nongovernmental organizations (Muehlebach, 2012;Shachar, 2014). The intimate connection between the market and the upsurge of volunteering in the public domain was carefully described in the ethnographic work of Muehlebach (2012), who described how "the domain of public giving" has "emerged in tandem with the market" (p. 21), and locates this mutual dependency as a fundamental principle of neoliberalism, which is "a force that can contain its negation-the vision of a decommodified, disinterested life and of a moral community of human relationality and solidarity that stands opposed to alienation" (p. 25).…”

Section: The Pure Sense Of "Volunteering"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Illustrated by ethnographic examples from India, Chatterjee argues that the majority of the world population is illegible to the civil society and organizes itself through what he calls "political society"-a use in mass-based political structures for gaining power and achievements. Ethnographic evidence shows that also in Israel, a pure sense of volunteering has been constructed, promoted, and universalized by a privileged ethnonational and upper middle class social stratum; these efforts were part of a range of strategies deployed by this privileged group to come to grips with its declining hegemonic stance (Shachar, 2014). In the UK, middle class dominance in the field of OPENING UP THE "BLACK BOX" OF "VOLUNTEERING" volunteering is reproduced by the tendency of volunteering recruiters and managers to focus on middle class youth who are more responsive to their recruitment efforts (Dean 2016), as recruiters are increasingly pushed to satisfy the neoliberal state's quest for growing numbers of volunteers (Dean 2015).…”

Section: Purifying "Volunteering"mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Opening Up the “Black Box” of “Volunteering”: On Hybridization and Purification in Volunteering Research and Promotion

Shachar

Essen

Hustinx

2019

Administrative Theory & Praxis

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The scholarly exploration of "volunteering" has mainly focused on identifying its antecedents or consequences, in order to facilitate the management and promotion of volunteering. In this dominant stream of research, the phenomenon of volunteering thus remains a "black box"-a takenfor-granted and fixed reality. The article sets out to open the black box of "volunteering" by not accepting it as a fixed, unproblematic object, but by exploring volunteering as a constructed phenomenon whose boundaries are managed and utilized by a variety of actors. To deconstruct volunteering, the article utilizes the Latourian notions of "hybridization" and "purification" as simultaneous and entangled mechanisms. We critically review the literature on "volunteering" and problematize the fundamental properties of the "pure" perception of "volunteering," their hybridization and eventual purification. The article concludes by highlighting how the constant tension between hybridization and purification mechanisms is in fact what makes volunteering proliferate as a phenomenon that has an increasing public significance in contemporary society. During the last three decades, there has been a burgeoning public interest in "volunteering". This interest is regularly expressed by state agencies and international bodies, corporations, and influential nonprofits, which often represent and promote volunteering as a highly glorified route for participating in civic life and contributing to the public good. An adjacent proliferating terrain is the growing scholarly work on volunteering, which often produces

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Pure Sense Of "Volunteering"mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Purifying "Volunteering"mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Opening Up the “Black Box” of “Volunteering”: On Hybridization and Purification in Volunteering Research and Promotion

Shachar

Essen

Hustinx

2019

Administrative Theory & Praxis

Self Cite

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“…Mizrahim are Jews of North-African and Middle-Eastern decent, who populate Israel's geo-political periphery, lower-achieving study tracks and lower positions in the labor market. Mizrahi youth are often the implicit object of nonprofit work and empowerment programs (including YS), while the field of volunteeringand its management is dominated by Ashkenazi privilege(Shachar, 2014).4 Quotes from volunteering activities are based on field notes taken during and soon after the occurrence of the events.5 Interviews held in Israel were conducted in Hebrew, and quotes were translated to English by the first author. Interviews in Belgium and the US were conducted mostly in English.Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Modalities of agency in a corporate volunteering program: Cultivating a resource of neoliberal governmentality

Shachar

Hustinx

2017

Ethnography

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Recent scholarly discussions on agency relate the concept to privilege, affect and subject formation, while challenging its equation with resistance to structural limitations. This article utilizes these discussions in a new terrain of ethnographic exploration: the engagement of corporate volunteers with underprivileged youth, coordinated by a transnational nonprofit that relies on corporate sponsorship. Based on a multi-sited ethnographic study that followed these activities in the US, Belgium and Israel, the article describes how corporate volunteers and coordinators projected an individualized and optimistic agency onto the beneficiaries of their activity, while perceiving their own agency as limited despite their privileged position. The simultaneous use of these two contradictory notions of agency governs employees’ engagement at work and their ideological adherence to corporate capitalism, making ‘agency’ a resource of neoliberal governmentality. These ethnographic insights contribute to explaining why corporations are increasingly interested in promoting volunteering as a salient Corporate Social Responsibility strategy.

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“…Šiuolaikinio nevyriausybinio sektoriaus susiformavimą iš esmės lėmė liberali anglosaksiška pilietinės visuomenės idėja, kuri pasitarnavo kaip pagrindinė institucinė arena savanoriškai veiklai (Shachar 2013(Shachar , 1421. Tai turėjo įtakos ir Lietuvai, nes atgavusi nepriklausomybę ji prisiėmė gerovės valstybės, besirūpinančios savo piliečių gerove, vaidmenį.…”

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Trečiasis sektorius ir socialinė gerovė; nevyriausybinių organizacijų vaidmuo gerovės valstybėje

Vorevičienė¹

2016

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Kauno technologijos universitetas Šv. Ignaco Lojolos kolegija Santrauka. Straipsnyje aptariamas nevyriausybinių organizacijų (NVO) vaidmuo socialinės gerovės srityje joms vykdant veiklą ir teikiant paslaugas gerovės valstybėje. Pristatoma NVO samprata ir raida, jų klasifikacija. Atskleidžiama NVO dalyvavimo prasmė ir reikšmė socialinės gerovės užtikrinimo srityje, be kurios visuomenė lieka neįtrauki, padrika, kupina nerealizuotų lūkesčių ir uždarumo. Tokios valstybės negalima vadinti gerovės valstybe, garantuojančia savo piliečiams saugumą, individo laisvę ir tuo pat metu-bendruomenišką sutelktumą. Pagrindiniai tyrimo rezultatai susiję su tuo, kad Lietuva, kitaip nei Vakarų Europos valstybės, vis dar kuria savo trečiąjį sektorių, tokių organizacijų veiklos tradicijas. Stebimas aktyvus bendruomenės įsitraukimas į pilietinę veiklą leidžia daryti prielaidą, kad nevyriausybinis sektorius Lietuvoje pasidarys aktyvus ir įtraukiantis vis didesnę pilietiškai angažuotą ne tik jaunimo, bet ir kitų amžiaus grupių bei socialinių sluoksnių visuomenę. Teikiama prielaida, kad individualizmas modernioje visuomenėje nėra didžiausia yda, kaip ją siekiama išryškinti ir aktualizuoti. Atvirkščiai, tai kaip tik gali tapti pranašumu, jei ši naujųjų laikų bendruomenės savybė bus panaudota ir nukreipta tinkama, t. y. inovatyvios realizacijos linkme, siekiant inovacijų ir trečiajame, ir kituose socialine gerove suinteresuotuose sektoriuose. Mokslinės literatūros analizė atskleidė, kad dėl skirtingos nei Vakarų Europos valstybių istorinės, socialinės, ekonominės situacijos kitaip vystėsi, formavosi ir nevyriausybinis sektorius Lietuvoje: vangiau, ne taip plačiai. Tačiau procesas palengva įsibėgėja, atsiranda tradicijos, vystosi aktyvi, smalsi pilietinė visuomenė, trokštanti savo žinias, gebėjimus realizuoti įprasminančia veikla, tam pasitelkdama nevyriausybinio sektoriaus organizacijas.

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The White Management of ‘Volunteering’: Ethnographic Evidence from an Israeli NGO

Cited by 19 publications

References 27 publications

Opening Up the “Black Box” of “Volunteering”: On Hybridization and Purification in Volunteering Research and Promotion

Opening Up the “Black Box” of “Volunteering”: On Hybridization and Purification in Volunteering Research and Promotion

Modalities of agency in a corporate volunteering program: Cultivating a resource of neoliberal governmentality

Trečiasis sektorius ir socialinė gerovė; nevyriausybinių organizacijų vaidmuo gerovės valstybėje

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