Volunteering as Virtue

This chapter revolves around the tensions between a virtuous act (volunteering), an institution, and the market. The sociological question is whether volunteering has a place in societies where voluntary work and voluntary associations have either been absorbed by the welfare state, or where voluntary services increasingly come under the control of professional managers who work for a salary. The historical and sociological interpretation of volunteering in relation to the growth of state structures is a useful point of departure, but it is clearly too simple to be satisfactory. Volunteering and voluntary associations have been central to American liberal theory and fundamental to American democracy. The chapter discusses the voluntary work and the modern economy can be seen as a contribution to Max Weber's meta-theoretical perspective on the rationalization of culture. In a modern society, volunteering is increasingly done by professional agencies, and in Britain a considerable component of their income is derived from the national lottery.

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