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Det ömsesidiga utbytet - en studie om motiv och drivkrafter bakom frivilligt socialt arbete

Antonsson, Emma LU and Larsson, Lina LU (2010) SOPA63 20092
School of Social Work
Abstract
More than half of the swedish population is engaged in voluntary work and about 600 million hours are spent each year in various kinds of non-profit work. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate the motives and incitements for commitment to voluntary work. The main question in this essay regards why people are involved in voluntary work. What are the motives and incitements for this commitment and what do people attain? The study is based on qualitative interviews with eight voluntary workers from different non-profit social organizations in Sweden. In our analysis, theoretical perspectives from Bourdieu and Mead are used to enlighten and clarify data collected from the interviews. The results show that there are many... (More)
More than half of the swedish population is engaged in voluntary work and about 600 million hours are spent each year in various kinds of non-profit work. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate the motives and incitements for commitment to voluntary work. The main question in this essay regards why people are involved in voluntary work. What are the motives and incitements for this commitment and what do people attain? The study is based on qualitative interviews with eight voluntary workers from different non-profit social organizations in Sweden. In our analysis, theoretical perspectives from Bourdieu and Mead are used to enlighten and clarify data collected from the interviews. The results show that there are many different motives involved in voluntary work. Specifically, four themes appeared: lifestyle, personal development, fellowship and responsibility for people in need.
These themes contain both expressed motives given by the respondents and motives discerned from our theoretical perspectives. Interestingly, the will and responsibility to help people in need was the main motive given by our respondents, while personal development and fellowship were seen as implicit motives. We conclude that the motives and incitements for voluntary work are diverse and dynamic. That is, there is often a difference between the original intention to get involved in voluntary work and the driving forces that maintain the commitment. (Less)
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author
Antonsson, Emma LU and Larsson, Lina LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOPA63 20092
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
frivilligt arbete, socialt frivilligt arbete, ideellt arbete, engagemang, Mead, motiv, Bourdieu, drivkrafter
language
Swedish
id
1571313
date added to LUP
2010-03-16 16:03:18
date last changed
2010-03-16 16:03:18
@misc{1571313,
  abstract     = {{More than half of the swedish population is engaged in voluntary work and about 600 million hours are spent each year in various kinds of non-profit work. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate the motives and incitements for commitment to voluntary work. The main question in this essay regards why people are involved in voluntary work. What are the motives and incitements for this commitment and what do people attain? The study is based on qualitative interviews with eight voluntary workers from different non-profit social organizations in Sweden. In our analysis, theoretical perspectives from Bourdieu and Mead are used to enlighten and clarify data collected from the interviews. The results show that there are many different motives involved in voluntary work. Specifically, four themes appeared: lifestyle, personal development, fellowship and responsibility for people in need. 
These themes contain both expressed motives given by the respondents and motives discerned from our theoretical perspectives. Interestingly, the will and responsibility to help people in need was the main motive given by our respondents, while personal development and fellowship were seen as implicit motives. We conclude that the motives and incitements for voluntary work are diverse and dynamic. That is, there is often a difference between the original intention to get involved in voluntary work and the driving forces that maintain the commitment.}},
  author       = {{Antonsson, Emma and Larsson, Lina}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Det ömsesidiga utbytet - en studie om motiv och drivkrafter bakom frivilligt socialt arbete}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}