Voluntarism, sometimes referred to as voluntary action, is the principle that individuals are free to choose goals and how to achieve them within the bounds of certain societal and cultural constraints, as opposed to actions that are coerced or
predetermined
Determinism is a philosophical view, where all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. Deterministic theories throughout the history of philosophy have developed from diverse and sometimes overlapping motives and consi ...
.
The term "voluntarism" is derived from Latin word "voluntary " which means 'will' the term voluntary association is variously defined. Voluntary organizations are known by several other names : Non-Government Organisations(NGOS), private voluntary organizations(PVOS) and so on depending on the geographic area and time period of reference. In general these organizations, regardless of terminology used, have certain characteristics; that they are non-government and non profit, that they are voluntary. The term NGO has become popular in the 1980s and 1990s and is extensively used in the field of development, where as the term "voluntary organization" had been used widely for social welfare and charity organizations. But these two terms are used interchangeably as both denote the same characteristics.
Volunteerism
Volunteer management specialist
Susan J. Ellis differentiates between "voluntarism" and "
volunteerism
Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...
":
"Voluntarism" (the older term) refers to everything voluntary. In the United States this includes religion. It certainly encompasses the entire "voluntary sector
The voluntary sector, independent sector, or civic sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by organizations that are non-governmental nonprofit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector, community sector, and nonprofit s ...
," but "voluntary" in the "voluntarism" context means not mandated by law (as government is). Many voluntary sector (nonprofit) agencies have a volunteer board because that is a legal requirement, but may not utilize volunteers in direct service in any way. There are subjects within "voluntarism" that have nothing to do with volunteers, such as Unrelated Business Income Tax
Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) in the U.S. Internal Revenue Code is the tax on unrelated business income, which comes from an activity engaged in by a tax-exempt 26 U.S.C. 501 organization that is not related to the tax-exempt purpose of ...
legislation, proposal writing, and compensation law.
Varieties
![Leaders welcoming boy into Mexico Scouting](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Leaders_welcoming_boy_into_Mexico_Scouting.jpg)
Voluntary provision of services to religious, civil, medical, educational, environmental and other private or governmental organizations doubtless has a long history. Such volunteer efforts keep expenses down for non-profit and philanthropic organizations, empower individuals and groups to help others, and make volunteers feel needed.
Voluntarism flourished in the 19th and early 20th centuries and was empowering especially to the women who had been excluded from political participation outside the home. Women's organizations dealt with social problems created by rapid industrialization and urbanization, and by massive immigration which were not addressed by institutions of the time and had a great influence on American political culture.
Voluntarism is also used to describe non-coercive methods of recruiting soldiers, from participants in European and American military service to youthful combatants in civil war in Sierra Leone.
Voluntarism has been a phrase used in labor relations. In Britain, it means the state refrains from directly intervening in industrial relations. In the early American labor movement it meant trade unions should focus on "pure and simple" gains in wages and working conditions and not independent labor politics and
industrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...
.
In his book ''Willful Liberalism: Voluntarism and Individuality in Political Theory and Practice'',
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
political science professor
Richard E. Flathman argues that liberals must understand more about individuality and self-reliance and self-responsibility and therefore be more open of acceptance of voluntary action and less concerned with ordering political society. He notes, "Americans of all ages, all conditions, and all dispositions constantly form associations," which he describes as "of a thousand other kinds, religious, moral, serious, futile, general or restricted, enormous or diminutive".
In
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
, voluntarism is an important aspect of the
action theory of
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons (December 13, 1902 – May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist of the classical tradition, best known for his social action theory and structural functionalism. Parsons is considered one of the most influential figures in sociol ...
, as well as other theories of
social action
In sociology, social action, also known as Weberian social action, is an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ' agents'). According to Max Weber, "Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes ...
and
agency.
Voluntaryists,
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...
advocates,
libertarians
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's enc ...
and
anarchists
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...
call for voluntary efforts to replace most or all government efforts, using both moral and utilitarian arguments.
Examples from American history
Voluntary provision of services to the religious, civil, medical, educational, environmental and other private or governmental organizations doubtless has a long history.
*
William Penn
William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...
, who established the Quakers in the late 17th century, preached taking responsibility for others and improving the world.
*
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting H ...
, who lived during the colonial period, encouraged the formation of associations and causes.
*
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
organized a voluntary militia in Quaker-controlled Pennsylvania, whose pacifist legislature refused to support the American revolutionary war.
*
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works ...
noted the unusually large number of voluntary associations in America.
* The
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. T ...
was a network of volunteers who helped slaves escape from their captors in the South.
*
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first gen ...
, a nurse, recruited and trained other women as nurses during the Civil War.
*
Clara Barton
Clarissa Harlowe Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912) was an American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and a patent clerk. Since nursing education was not then very ...
also served as a Civil War nurse and went on to establish the American Red Cross in 1881 for relief of natural disasters, such as earthquakes.
*
Jane Addams
Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...
opened a settlement house in 1889 to teach volunteers how to help the poor improve their lives.
* In 1995, 93 million Americans volunteered an average of 4.3 hours per week.
See also
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Structure and agency
In the social sciences there is a standing debate over the primacy of structure or agency in shaping human behaviour. ''Structure'' is the recurrent patterned arrangements which influence or limit the choices and opportunities available. '' Agency ...
*
Symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interactionism is a sociological theory that develops from practical considerations and alludes to particular effects of communication and interaction in people to make images and normal implications, for deduction and correspondence w ...
*
Virtual volunteering
Virtual volunteering refers to volunteering, volunteer activities completed, in whole or in part, using the Internet and a home, school, telecenter, or work computer or other Internet-connected device, such as a smartphone or a tablet computer, tab ...
References
External links
Landscapes of voluntarism, New spaces of health, welfare and governance Christine Milligan and David Conradson, editors.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Voluntarism (Action)
Anarchist theory
Civil society
Free will
Libertarian theory
Social theories