A study of Volunteer Motivations and Notions of Solidarity
Author
Nielsen, Stig Østergård
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2016
Submitted on
2016-11-01
Pages
55
Abstract
I foråret 2016 på den græske ø Lesbos, tæt på den tyrkiske kyst, forsøgte utallige mennesker at krydse den korte strækning til EU. Dette projekt undersøger, hvorfor en udvalgt gruppe frivillige valgte at arbejde på øens strande og klippefyldte moler i denne periode. Studiet bygger på semistrukturerede interviews. Ordrette transskriptioner blev kodet for tilbagevendende temaer og derefter organiseret ved hjælp af Volunteer Functions Index (VFI) udviklet af Allen Omoto og Mark Snyder—et rammeværk, der grupperer forskellige grunde til at udføre frivilligt arbejde. Denne tilgang blev brugt til at beskrive hver deltageres motivationer og identificere plausible individuelle motivationsmønstre. Mønstrene blev derefter sammenlignet på tværs af deltagere for at vurdere, hvilke typer motivationer der var mest fremtrædende eller særegne. Analysen peger på et fælles motivationsmønster på tværs af alle kilder. For at forstå denne fællesnævner introducerer projektet Carol Goulds teori om transnational solidaritet, som nyfortolker Emile Durkheims begreber om mekanisk og organisk solidaritet, og inddrager Kraig Beyerlin og David Sikkinks arbejde om frivilligt engagement efter terrorangrebene den 11. september i New York City. Tilsammen bruges disse perspektiver til at forklare, hvorfor værdi- og fællesskabsorienterede motiver for at være frivillig optræder bredt og kan forstås som udtryk for transnational solidaritet.
In spring 2016, on the Greek island of Lesvos close to the Turkish coast, countless people attempted the short sea crossing to the European Union. This project examines why a selected group of volunteers chose to work on the island’s beaches and rocky piers during that period. The study is based on semi-structured interviews. Verbatim transcripts were coded for recurring themes and then organized with the help of the Volunteer Functions Index (VFI) developed by Allen Omoto and Mark Snyder—a framework that groups the different reasons people volunteer. This approach was used to describe each participant’s motivations and to identify plausible individual motivational patterns. These patterns were then compared across participants to assess which types of motivations were most prominent or distinctive. The analysis points to a shared motivational pattern across all sources. To make sense of this commonality, the project introduces Carol Gould’s theory of transnational solidarity, which reinterprets Emile Durkheim’s ideas of mechanical and organic solidarity, and draws on Kraig Beyerlin and David Sikkink’s work on volunteering after the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Taken together, these perspectives help explain why value- and community-centered reasons to volunteer appear broadly and can be understood as expressions of transnational solidarity.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
Documents