Changing Trends in Volunteering

Abstract

… the role of the volunteer is changing and will continue to change in so dramatic a way as to make the traditional meaning of the world largely irrelevant. “Volunteering” is fast ceasing to be an activity practised by a small minority for the benefit of the majority but is becoming the natural means whereby the majority of citizens may become involved in their own community, whether in the form of pressure groups, whether by physical work in their immediate environment or in other ways. The distinction between “voluntary work” as a minority service function and “voluntary work” as the natural expression of individuals' desire to be involved in their own society, as government involvement and the resulting centralization of decision-making increases, is a critical assumption…¹