Towards Good Life by Volunteering?

In this article the work of the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor is used to open up new interpretative space within which to discuss some central topics in volunteering research. The authors argue that at the core Charles Taylor's multifaceted work is a theory of motivation and action that c...

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Main Authors: Bente Blanche Nicolaysen, Anne Birgitta Pessi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlage 2010-01-01
Series:Diaconia
Online Access:https://vr-elibrary.de/doi/10.13109/diac.2010.1.2.128
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author Bente Blanche Nicolaysen
Anne Birgitta Pessi
author_facet Bente Blanche Nicolaysen
Anne Birgitta Pessi
author_sort Bente Blanche Nicolaysen
collection DOAJ
description In this article the work of the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor is used to open up new interpretative space within which to discuss some central topics in volunteering research. The authors argue that at the core Charles Taylor's multifaceted work is a theory of motivation and action that can fruitfully be used to discuss two central questions within volunteering research: why does the volunteer volunteer? ; and, how does personal moral commitment arise through volunteering? In a first part of the article - an Empirical section - the authors discuss the abovementioned questions against the background of key concepts in Charles Taylor's work (horizons of significance; strong and weak evaluation; and narrative identity), and by drawing on two empirical qualitative studies of volunteering from Finland and Norway. By drawing on Taylor's work, the authors wish to bring together the dimensions of action, motivation, identity and moral evaluation in a discussion of the cross-national empirical findings. In a second part of the article - a Discussion section − the authors point first to challenges for future research on volunteering, with special attention given to the topic of recruitment, and then to some key theoretical implications of Taylor's work for volunteering research. Finally, some promising themes are drawn out that should be studied sociologically in the future by taking Taylor's writings closer to the empirics.
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spelling doaj.art-18e4c185c6ce44e0b70ed32d471c31162022-12-21T22:52:13ZengVandenhoeck & Ruprecht VerlageDiaconia1869-32612196-90272010-01-011212815510.13109/diac.2010.1.2.128Towards Good Life by Volunteering?Bente Blanche NicolaysenAnne Birgitta PessiIn this article the work of the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor is used to open up new interpretative space within which to discuss some central topics in volunteering research. The authors argue that at the core Charles Taylor's multifaceted work is a theory of motivation and action that can fruitfully be used to discuss two central questions within volunteering research: why does the volunteer volunteer? ; and, how does personal moral commitment arise through volunteering? In a first part of the article - an Empirical section - the authors discuss the abovementioned questions against the background of key concepts in Charles Taylor's work (horizons of significance; strong and weak evaluation; and narrative identity), and by drawing on two empirical qualitative studies of volunteering from Finland and Norway. By drawing on Taylor's work, the authors wish to bring together the dimensions of action, motivation, identity and moral evaluation in a discussion of the cross-national empirical findings. In a second part of the article - a Discussion section − the authors point first to challenges for future research on volunteering, with special attention given to the topic of recruitment, and then to some key theoretical implications of Taylor's work for volunteering research. Finally, some promising themes are drawn out that should be studied sociologically in the future by taking Taylor's writings closer to the empirics.https://vr-elibrary.de/doi/10.13109/diac.2010.1.2.128
spellingShingle Bente Blanche Nicolaysen
Anne Birgitta Pessi
Towards Good Life by Volunteering?
Diaconia
title Towards Good Life by Volunteering?
title_full Towards Good Life by Volunteering?
title_fullStr Towards Good Life by Volunteering?
title_full_unstemmed Towards Good Life by Volunteering?
title_short Towards Good Life by Volunteering?
title_sort towards good life by volunteering
url https://vr-elibrary.de/doi/10.13109/diac.2010.1.2.128
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