Cultural Capital and Volunteering: A Multilevel Study From China

Abstract

In this article, we extend Wilson and Musick’s concept of cultural capital, which was defined as the culture of benevolence, to a multilevel concept and build a multilevel cultural capital theory about individual (nonmandatory) volunteering based on religious beliefs, political values, belief in social justice, and belief in social trust in the context of volunteering in China. Data from the 2012 Chinese General Social Survey, China’s national and comprehensive large-scale social survey project, are used to empirically investigate the influences of individual-level cultural capital (values of benevolence) and contextual-level cultural capital (cultural climate of benevolence) on individual volunteering. In terms of individual-level cultural capital, membership in the Chinese Communist Party (China’s ruling party), belief in social justice, and belief in social trust have significant positive relationships with individual volunteering. In terms of contextual-level cultural capital, the religious climate and justice climate in a province have significant positive effects on individual volunteering.