Volunteering and the 'Big Society' - Colin Rochester
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Strengthening Volunteering in the South West - a cross sector responsibility Volunteering and the ‘Big Society’: Opportunity or Threat? Colin Rochester
Transcript of Volunteering and the 'Big Society' - Colin Rochester
Strengthening Volunteering in the South West - a cross sector responsibility
Volunteering and the ‘Big Society’:
Opportunity or Threat?
Colin Rochester
What is the ‘Big Society’?
- the official view
Community empowerment
Opening up public services
Social action
Social Action in the ‘Big Society’
‘encouraging and enabling people to play a more active part in society. National Citizen Service, Community Organisers and Community First will encourage people to get involved in their communities’
What is the ‘Big Society’? - a sceptical view
public expenditure cuts
‘localisation’ not local government
privatisation
reduction of public sphere
Opportunities for Volunteers
Greater recognition
More ‘space’ for volunteering
More scope for volunteer roles
Threats to Volunteering
Loss of support for volunteers- loss of funding for volunteer-involving
organisations
- damage to infrastructure organisations
Pressure on volunteers
- moral coercion
- inappropriate roles
- blurring boundaries
Another Threat
The impact of market forces on volunteer involving organisations means
• Loss of ownership of local branches
• Loss of responsibility
But what do we mean by volunteering?
Narrow view and clear focus: the ‘dominant paradigm’
A more heterogeneous and untidy phenomenon: the ‘round earth map’
The ‘dominant paradigm’
Motivation: helping less fortunate Areas of activity: social welfare broadly defined Organisational context; large, professionally
staffed and formally structured organisations Volunteer roles: recruited for specific roles:
may involve selection, induction and training
A ‘round earth’ approach
Motivation
Areas of activity
Organisational context
Volunteer roles
Figure One: A three perspective model of volunteering
Unpaid workor service
Seriousleisure
Activism
Digging deeper: values
Freedom to volunteer implies freedom not to get involved
the right to choose in what area to participate and for what purpose
Volunteers are ‘not biddable’ - mavericks Volunteers are ‘essentially self-starting,
inner-directed, and often angry’
Three broad responses
to the ‘Big Society’
1.Go with the grain
2.Treat it as largely irrelevant – if you can!
3.Challenge it
