Beyond choice: 'thick' volunteering and the case of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.

O'Toole, Michelle; Grey, Chris

Abstract

This article problematizes the dominant assumption in the literature on volunteer work that it is undertaken primarily as a matter of individual choice. Using findings from a qualitative study of volunteers at the not-for-profit organization, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, it is shown that volunteering exists within a dense web of social relations, especially familial and communal relations, so that volunteering is recursively constituted by structure and agency. The concept of 'thick volunteering' is developed to denote how in some cases these social relations, especially when the work involved is dangerous, may make volunteering especially significant.

Citation

O'TOOLE, M. and GREY, C. 2016. Beyond choice: 'thick' volunteering and the case of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Human relations [online], 69(1), pages 85-109. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726715580156

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 30, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Sep 30, 2015
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 8, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 8, 2016
• Journal: Human relations
• Print ISSN: 0018-7267
• Electronic ISSN: 1741-282X
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 69
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 85-109
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726715580156
• Keywords: Agency; Charities/not-for-profit organisations; Dangerous work; Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI); Structure; Thick volunteering; Volunteering; Volunteerism
• Public URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10059/1421