Volunteers and volunteering in leisure: social science perspectives

Abstract

Leisure has been widely examined within the context of social science theory; however, little work has considered the range of social science disciplines and applied them to specific phenomena located within the leisure field. This paper adopts such an approach to conceptualise and examine volunteers and volunteering in leisure settings. In a disciplinary sense, therefore, the sociological view focuses upon the conceptualisation of volunteering as leisure, the psychological view seeks to understand motivations driving volunteering while the perspective of economists tends to complement these standpoints in terms of why people volunteer and further examines the value of volunteer contributions. Comparative analysis of the perspectives enunciated within these key disciplines provides a picture of the status of research relating to leisure volunteers and volunteering. The purposes of this paper are to identify gaps in current knowledge, drawing out conclusions and their implications for an improved understanding of this area as well as to enhance comprehension of disciplinary contributions to the study of leisure phenomena.

Music Festivals and Social Inclusion – The Festival Organizers’ Perspective

“…They may also facilitate relationship and skills development, such as experience in leadership or hands-on management skills, covering areas as broad as logistics, hospitality, or human resources, which may improve employment prospects (Johnson et al, 2011). Broad community involvement as volunteers also might have social inclusion outcomes, as people mix with others across a wide spectrum of backgrounds and interests (Finkel, 2010;Lockstone-Binney, Holmes, Smith, & Baum, 2010;Morgan, 2008). This might facilitate interaction across social strata, ethnic background, and gender divides.…”

“…Tourists were similarly marginalized from involvement and treated as "outsiders," and there was community resistance to widespread publicity for this festival. Similarly, Lockstone-Binney et al (2010) highlighted the potential underrepresentation of socially disadvantaged groups as volunteers.…”

Questionnement prospectif à partir de quelques tendances sociales et de leurs impacts sur le loisir

“…Ainsi, l'action bénévole devra tendre vers une vocation collective que l'État a la responsabilité morale d'organiser. À cet égard, la connaissance notionnelle des valeurs et des motivations chez les bénévoles à savoir pourquoi ceux-ci posent des gestes gratuits se révèle fondamentale dans la démarche compréhensive du cadre théorico-pratique au loisir (Lockstone-Binney, Holmes, Smith, & Baum, 2010). Les intervenant(e)s en loisir quant à eux auront à dévelop-per des stratégies et des activités d'apprentissage chez leurs bénévoles (Harvey, 2003) parce que le 'clientélisme' influence la dynamique de l'action bénévole et l'initiative citoyenne comme expérience de loisir (Thibault et al, 2007).…”

A new model of volunteer leadership: lessons from a local festival

“…Although the literature on festival and event volunteering is growing (Smith et al 2014, Gallarza, Arteaga, and Gil-Saura 2013, Lockstone-Binney et al 2010, with interest in sporting mega-event volunteering being particularly strong (Chanavat and Ferrand 2010, Doherty 2009, Wilks 2014, in-depth study of volunteer leadership within these contexts is sparse. Similarly, within the wider community volunteering context, Jäger, Kreutzer and Beyes (2009) claim that the practices of leading volunteers in settings where the leader is also unpaid and thus has no formal power, as in this small festival case study, is an underresearched phenomenon, while Ockenden and Hutin (2008) also comment that little is known about leadership within small volunteer-led groups.…”