Noorte organisatsiooniline kuuluvus siirdeaja Eestis: motiivid ja eesmärgid individualiseerumisteooria kontekstis
Kuupäev
2007
Autorid
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Tartu Ülikool
Abstrakt
Kirjeldus
My master thesis is titled “Organizational Membership of Young People in Transitional
Estonia: Purposes and Motives in the Context of Individualization Theory”. The central
focus of my study is the influence of individualization and globalization processes on the
collective action of young people. It is based on the theoretical paradigm of
individualization and risk society which claims that in late modern societies self-
determined individuals are in the centre of the society. Several empirical researches and
analyses conducted by sociologists indicate to the changes in social sphere and value
systems of young people. It is also believed that participation in different collective
activities is decreasing among young people in whole Europe. As societal and ethical
decisions are individualized, young people must – even though they may not be so
inclined – take an individual stand and take responsibility for society’s value decisions,
problems and risks.
I have set two goals for the master thesis: theoretical and practical. The theoretical goal of
this study is to provide a theoretical context for analyzing the perspectives of
organizational membership, collective action, the societal coherence of young people and
the development of the third sector in Estonia. My aim is to raise the problem and the
hypothesis of the research by the individualization and risk theory. The practical purpose
of my thesis is to give some tips for the leaders of different organizations about how to
reach the members of their organization and motivate young people to take action. While
discussing the theoretical and practical issues of my research I wish to find out why
young people are becoming less interested in community work.
My study is based on 5 focus-group interviews and 4 in-depth interviews. As the thesis is
written in a comparative perspective, the data has been gathered from five different types
of organizations. All the five organizations are youth organizations that are, according to
my presumptions, dependent on global and societal processes.
In the first chapter I give a theoretical and an empirical overview of the analyzed field,
focusing on the main thesis and empirical data of individualization. My own empirical
material comes from different organizations - opinions of the leaders and active
members. In the concluding part I answer the questions set in the research. In the
discussion section I link my research results with the theoretical and empirical parts
presented at the beginning of the thesis.
My results indicate to the fact that individualization has in some ways affected the
mindset and values of young generation in Estonia, regarding collective action and
organizational membership. The main motives for joining any organization are very
closely related to people’s personal pragmatic reasons. On the other hand my results
show that individualization does not lead organizational and collective work into
collapse. Although the values and motives of the younger generation differ from the
previous generation, collective action is not disappearing from the society. However, it
changes according to the values and priorities of a modern society generation.
Märksõnad
H Social Sciences (General)