Vabatahtlik töö siirdeaja Eestis: vabatahtlike kogemus, motivatsioon ja võrgustikud

Date

2005

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Abstract

Description

My diploma work analyses volunteerism in Estonia from the perspective of three aspects: the meaning of volunteerism in an independent Estonian society, the motivation and networks of volunteers. The main purpose of my study – the motives of young volunteers and the meaning of volunteerism in Estonia – is based on the hypothesis that collective and pragmatic volunteerism that was characteristic of the Soviet Union times and first Estonian Republic times has got a new social meaning. Today volunteerism is very much connected to the individualization process that is taking place in many modern societies, including Estonia. In theoretical and empirical chapter I give an overview of different empirical studies that have been made about volunteerism and motivations of volunteers in different countries. I also quote some of the reports of the United Nations and European Union Social Development Committees. In addition to that I report Ulrich Beck’s book about individualization and its connection to volunteerism. To oppose Beck’s and other social scientists’ ideas that volunteerism is a result of individualization, I quote Lagerspetz and others who see volunteerism as a result of political ideologies. The results of my study show that in Estonia volunteers have quite clear idea and understanding what volunteerism is about. In addition to that, all of my respondents said that volunteer work can be any kind of activity that is based on pure willingness to help other people, organizations or environment. One of the main characteristic aspects of volunteerism is that it is any kind of activity that is helping others without expecting any payment for that. My results also show that volunteers have different motives for doing this work, but it is not purely altruistic. The pragmatic motives, such as getting new experience and creating social networks have been replaced by more emotional motives, such as getting positive feedback from volunteer work. Talking about volunteer networks in Estonia, my results show that volunteer networks are not very highly developed yet. In conclusion volunteerism in Estonia is becoming more and more important, but needs to be developed a lot because it is an important part of civil society and social responsibility. Volunteerism with the motives of volunteers show what the main values and norms in society are.

Keywords

H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd

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