Voluntarism, Community Life, and the American Ethic

Inbunden, Engelska, 2004

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"This is a major contribution to the literature on social participation and voluntary action. It is the first systematic ethnographic study I know that treats volunteers and the institutions they create." —John Van Til, author of Growing Civil Society "Students and faculty interested in the issue of homelessness will find the book instructive. . . Recommended." —Choice Why do people volunteer, and what motivates them to stick with it? How do local organizations create community? How does voluntary participation foster moral development in volunteers to create a better citizenry? In this fascinating study of volunteers at the Partnership for the Homeless in New York City, Robert S. Ogilvie provides bold and engaging answers to these questions. He describes how volunteer programs such as the Partnership generate ethical development in and among participants and how the Partnership's volunteers have made it such a continued success since the early 1980s. Ogilvie's examination of voluntarism suggests that the American ethic is essential for sustaining community life and to the future well-being of a democratic society.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2004-06-18
Mått156 x 235 x 18 mm
Vikt590 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SeriePhilanthropic and Nonprofit Studies
Antal sidor288
FörlagIndiana University Press
ISBN9780253344236

Tillhör följande kategorier

Sociala och etiska frågor inom Samhalle och politik

AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Voluntarism and the American Ethic1. The Partnership for the Homeless: The Tradition of Churches Helping the Homeless in New York2. In the Church Shelters3. Why People Volunteer in Church Shelters and Why They Keep at It4. The Mediating Role of the Church Shelters5. The Moral Effects of the Volunteer Experience6. The Church Shelters as Community-Generating Institutions7. Social Architecture: The Art of Building Community-Generating InstitutionsConclusionAppendix: Research MethodsNotesBibliographyIndex

"Ogilvie (city and regional planning, Univ. of California, Berkeley) attempts to place a case study of volunteers at two New York City church—based homeless shelters into a larger, sociological, theoretical framework. He is more successful in presenting a vivid portrait of the volunteers than he is at theorizing. The study of the centers is careful and insightful, but his treatment of the community literature is superficial and selective. The author draws on the concept of moral communities (Seymour Mandelbaum, Open Moral Communities, CH, Oct'00, 38—1013) as well as the literature of communities of practice (Etienne Wenger, Communities of Practice, 1998). A final chapter that is both practical and prescriptive discusses the process of building community organizations that create community, rather than those designed to serve the community. Students and faculty interested in this issue of homelessness will find the book instructive, but those interested in larger issues in community sociology will likely be disappointed. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper—division undergraduates and above."—A. A. Hickey, Western Carolina University , Choice, March 2005