The Futures of Volunteerism (2000)

Sohail Inayatullah

To understand the futures of volunteerism, we need to unpack current perspectives and practices of volunteerism.

First volunteerism makes sense in the context of a paid economy, that is, wherein labour in monetized. It is its opposite. In a society where there is no scarcity, the entire society would be about volunteerism.  That is, it exists in the context of certain things that have to be done – the famous job. As the future of work is being transformed, potentially creating a world where only 10% will work, the issue of what will the rest do can be partly solved by volunteerism. The 90% who do not work will either be well off because of technology or permanently the underclass. In either case, the issue of intellectual and spiritual development will be problematic since there will be no challenge. Volunteerism provides a vehicle to express some of these potentials.

Historically, volunteerism was central to society, it was part of community building, take care of others, indeed, central to agricultural/feudal society.  It was especially strong in religious systems. In Islam, this was focused on feeding the poor, neighbors and relatives. However, there was no specific term called volunteerism. This is modern, it appears.

VOLUNTEERISM IN INDUSTRIAL TIMES

Volunteerism in industrial times is essentially about the following:

  • Partly about charity (do good work for others). This is generally about volunteerism and idealism. Volunteerism makes us a better person and it builds the community. Those activities that the state or market cannot pay for, volunteers can handle.
  • Partly about filling in the spaces that the State cannot cover.  With globalization and the resultant pressure to reduce state expenditures, volunteerism becomes on of the easiest ways out for the State. No structural changes are needed. Privatization can continue unabated.
  • Volunteerism, while idealistic, is also about nation-building and nation-legitimacy. Behind it is the notion that we should sacrifice to make a great nation. Business is working hard, the State is working hard, now each and every citizen should give of their labour to create a great nation. Images of and stories of sacrifice are used to convince citizens. This is most often done in times of war but as well as part of economic development and disaster relief.
  • Volunteerism is also partly about social movements. In this sense volunteerism is not merely about charity or nation building but about transforming society. With globalization expanding the economic sphere (creating us all into consumers and economic rationalists) and the State sphere either increasing this process (becoming more efficient, transparent, citizen oriented, democratic but with far less funds), issues of solidarity, partnership, justice, morality are lost. Environmental concerns, women’s concerns and those negatively impacted by globalization are dealt with through volunteer labour. However, this volunteerism is not beholden to state, rather it is about transforming state and economy, creating a dynamic civil society. If we take a spatial view, it is about challenging the expansion of the market (or at the very least, helping those who fall through the cracks of globalization) and enhancing the size of the people’s culture. This means as well expansion relative to the size of the state.
  • Volunteerism is also partly about what to do with youth. Given that there are not enough jobs for young people, what should they do. Volunteerism becomes a state sponsored solution to crime, to minds with nothing to do, and to the bio-psychological transition to young people go through as they become adults.

POST-SCARCITY FUTURES

However as we move to a post-industrial, postmodern economy, volunteerism takes on a different guise. Volunteerism becomes the answer to the question of what to do in a leisure society wherein scarcity is no longer a problem.

This has two phases. The first is the current stage where most work in most industrial societies is no longer essential for housing, food, clothes, education and health. It is featherbedding, engaged in to keep all employed. We could easily reorganize society to eliminated 40-50 of current jobs (much of government, the advertising industry, the endless product churning out machines and structures).

The second phase is essentially about the Long Boom, or incredible growth through nano-technology, artificial intelligence and genetic technologies. Endless wealth creation and for all practical purposes the elimination of scarcity, first in all OECD nations, and second, through out the world.

Given that we define ourselves by how we work and how we consume, what then? Volunteerism gives us a glimpse of a meaningful future – that is, engaging in activities that benefit others. It also helps us escape consumer culture.

SCENARIOS

The future of volunteerism is generally dependent on the future of the world system.

In a globalized economy (where the key driver in the economy)  volunteerism will continue to expand as it will be necessary to fill services that markets and the state are unwilling or incapable of doing so. This is especially the case with an aging society.

In a post-scarcity artificial economy (where the key driver is technology), volunteerism will be directly related to meaning, to finding ways to create social community with others, to learn about others, to do things with others.

In the current world, a bit globalized, a bit nation-state dominated, a bit church dominated, volunteerism will continue to take many guises. These include as part of nation-building (long live our state), as local community development, a charity for the poor, as an alternative to military service.

In a world that collapses because of the crash of world capitalism or climate change, volunteerism will be main activity, providing the glue for communities under distress.

However, for volunteerism to fulfil its idealistic dimension, it will need to clear about its vision. For me, this has to be about service to others. This means service to plants, animals, and human being through physical activity, intellectual activity and spiritual activity.

Ultimately, volunteerism is about creating a new type of world – one where individuals are not commodified by markets or oppressed by states but find ways to express the softer dimensions of culture.

VOLUNTEER FUTURES

What then specifically can we say about the futures of volunteerism. These are the following scenarios.

1.      Volunteerism as Expanding Civil Society – Volunteerism remains about developing one’s own human potential and about expanding the circle of civil society. Volunteerism grows as society becomes officially less caring and more finance driven. With less money for the public, only volunteers can soothe the pains caused by globalization.  Volunteerism, however, becomes an agent for social change, uniting with other social movements for a different social contract than that offered by globalization. Volunteerism is essential in creating a global moral society. Volunteerism moves from taking care of the individual to social transformation.

2.      Volunteerism as charity. Volunteerism remains tied to individual actions, as part of either feeling good, or reducing guilty, or as stop-gap measures that Big Capital and Big Government are unable to adequately respond to.  Volunteerism becomes a major activity of elderly people. It is how they pass their time and find meaning.

3.      Volunteerism as Expanding the State. In this last scenario, volunteerism expands but generally to celebrate the nation-state or the corporation or some other abstract entity. Volunteers are used for social and political purposes. They are organized and “governmentalized” to use a Foucauldian phrase.

Which futures emerge is dependent on a variety of forces. First, how grand trends such as globalization play themselves out. Second, the impact of aging on wealthy societies. Third, the capacity of social movements to organize and create a new global contract between self, other, nature and polity. Fourth, agency within volunteer movements themselves, particularly their vision of the future. While technology, globalization and changing demographics push the future, the preferred vision is the pull of the future. Without this pull, volunteerism and volunteer organizations will find their futures appropriate for nation and capital, and not for the idealism that is essentially their reason for being.