Towards Good Life by Volunteering?

Abstract

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.