VOLUNTEERING AS A MANIFESTATION OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE’S SOCIAL ACTIVITY

Abstract

The article presents the results of an organized study and spontaneous volunteer activities of young people, reveals the specificity of social practices and the peculiarities of “detachment” motivation and “spontaneous” volunteering. Volunteer activity of young people is seen as a manifestation of social activity, including individual / personal and group / collective forms. The empirical study was carried out using the methodological technique of triangulation — a combination of quantitative and qualitative strategies for collecting and analyzing data: a questionnaire survey of young volunteers (N = 131) and in-depth semi-formalized interviews (18 informants). Based on the data analysis results, the main motives of volunteers, key areas of volunteering, changes related to the pandemic and the role of volunteers in this period, the prospects for the development of detachment volunteering are revealed. The advantages and limitations of organized (detachment) and spontaneous volunteering, barriers in the development of young people’s social activity are revealed. The Russian and foreign experience of youth involvement in volunteering is presented, an analysis of trends in the development of youth volunteering, institutional conditions and limitations manifested in the practice of volunteering is presented. The study showed that the key advantages of squad volunteering are the presence of an organizer coordinating the work, the ability to do more good deeds, the presence of like-minded people, access to events closed to other volunteers, the opportunity to become a leader of the volunteer squad. The main barriers in the implementation of volunteer activities are associated with the registration procedure for applications for events, lack of resources, excessive formalization. As a recommendation based on the results of the study, in order to support the positive social activity of young people, it was proposed to create resource centers that would allow coordinating the work of volunteers and ensuring continuity in volunteering.