Abstract
This introductory chapter presents the Volume and the rationale behind it. The core content of the Volume is the presentation of the results of a twofold test – methodological and substantial – of new international standards for the measurement of volunteering in Italy. In methodological terms, we tested their capacity to conciliate a global perspective with the local connotations of volunteering. In substantial terms, we wondered if their application allowed for an advancement of knowledge of contemporary volunteering. We explain that the data and conclusions presented in the Volume have global relevance and will be of interest for scholars, statisticians, third sector practitioners and policy makers. As the Volume contains data standardized to the new statistical definition of volunteering (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division, Satellite Account on Nonprofit and Related Institutions and Volunteer Work. UN, New York, 2018), it focuses on critically assessing the capability of the international standard to capture the common core of volunteering in different cultural settings. The data are elaborated and discussed in a complexity-driven perspective through the lens of Italy, showing how several traits of the different manifestations of contemporary volunteering are connected to territorial, family and individual differences. This carefully documented presentation of the Italian experience of generating and using the statistical data on volunteering provides methodological guidance and substantial benchmark that address scholarship and policy interests.
The Chapter results from a strong and ongoing collaboration between the authors. However, Riccardo Guidi can be considered as the author of Sects. 1.1 (except 1.1.2) and 1.2; Tania Cappadozzi and Ksenija Fonović as the authors of Sects. 1.1.2 and 1.3.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This Handbook revises the 2002 UN Handbook on the Non-Profit Institutions in the System of National Accounts.
References
Agnew, J. (2002). Place and politics in modern Italy. London: University of Chicago Press.
Almond, G., & Verba, S. (1963). The civic culture: Political attitudes and democracy in five nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Anheier, H. K., & Salamon, L. M. (1999). Volunteering in cross-national perspective: Initial comparisons. Law and Contemporary Problems, 62(4), 43–65.
Appe, S., et al. (2017). Global solidarity: Learning from volunteer frameworks in Peru. In J. Butcher & C. Einolf (Eds.), Perspectives on volunteering (Nonprofit and civil society studies). Cham: Springer.
Ascoli, U., & Pavolini, E. (2015). The Italian welfare state in a European perspective: A comparative analysis. Bristol: Policy Press.
Aymard, M. (1971). In Sicilia: sviluppo demografico e sue differenziazioni geografiche, 1500-1800. Quaderni Storici, 6(17(2)), 417–446.
Bagnasco, A. (1977). Tre Italie. La problematica territoriale dello sviluppo italiano. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Bagnasco, A. (1988). La costruzione sociale del mercato. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Bagnasco, A. (2006). Ritorno a Montegrano. In E. C. Banfield (Ed.), Le basi morali di una società arretrata (pp. 9–31). Bologna: Il Mulino.
Bagnasco, A., & Oberti, M. (1998). Italy: le ‘trompe-l’œil’ of regions. In P. Le Galés & C. Lequesne (Eds.), Regions in Europe. London-New York: Routledge.
Banfield, E. C. (1958). The moral basis of a backward society. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press.
Barbagallo, F. (2011). Il Mezzogiorno e l’Italia (1861-2011). Studi Storici, 52(2), 337–356.
Barbagallo, F. (2017). La questione italiana: Il Nord e il Sud dal 1860 a oggi. Roma-Bari: Laterza.
Becattini, G. (1975). La situazione economica della Toscana. Firenze: IRPET.
Beck, U. (1992). Risk society: Towards a new modernity. New Delhi: Sage.
Bekkers, R. (2008). Volunteerism. In W. A. Darity Jr. (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social sciences (2nd ed.). Macmillan Reference: Detroit.
Bifulco, L. (2011). The public at a time of crisis: Some notes on the Italian case. Journal of Public Affairs, 11, 364–371.
Bifulco, L., & Centemeri, L. (2007). Governance and participation in local welfare: The case of the Italian Piani di zona. Social Policy & Administration, 42(3), 211–227.
Bottazzi, G. (1990). I Sud del Sud. I divari interni al Mezzogiorno e il rovesciamento delle gerarchie spaziali. Meridian, 10, 141–181.
Cassese, S. (1998). Lo Stato introvabile. Modernità e arretratezza delle istituzioni italiane. Roma: Donzelli.
Catanzaro, R. (1979). Le cinque Sicilie: disarticolazione sociale e struttura di classe in un’economia dipendente, in. Rassegna italiana di sociologia, 7, 7–35.
Cnaan, R. A., & Handy, F. (2005). Towards understanding episodic volunteering. Vrijwillige Inzet Onderzocht, 2(1), 29–35.
Cnaan, R. A., Handy, F., & Wadsworth, M. (1996). Defining who is a volunteer: Conceptual and empirical considerations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 25(3), 364–383.
Dekker, P. (2018). From pillarized active membership to populist active citizenship: The Dutch do democracy. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 30(1), 74–85.
Dekker, P., & Halman, L. (2003). Volunteering and values. An introduction. In P. Dekker & L. Halman (Eds.), The values of volunteering: Cross-cultural perspectives. New York: Kluwer.
Einolf, C. J., et al. (2016). Informal, unorganized volunteering. In D. H. Smith, R. A. Stebbins, & J. Grotz (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of volunteering, civic participation, and nonprofit associations. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Enjolras, B., & Strømsnes, K. (2018). The transformation of the Scandinavian voluntary sector. In B. Enjolras & K. Strømsnes (Eds.), Scandinavian civil society and social transformations. The case of Norway. New York: Springer.
ENRD (European Network for Rural Development). (2019). Strategy for Inner Areas Italy. Working document. Available at: https://enrd.ec.europa.eu/
Fowler, A., & Mati, J. M. (2019). African gifting: Pluralising the concept of philanthropy. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 30, 724–737.
Gramsci, A. (1966). Alcuni temi sulla quistione meridionale. In F. De Felice & V. Parlato (Eds.), Scritti sulla questione meridionale. Rome: Editori Riuniti.
Guidi, R. (2021). Re-Intermediating Voluntary Action. The Path-Dependent Pluralization of Italian Volunteering Field. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, forthcoming.
Handy, F., Cnaan, R. A., Brudney, J. L., Ascoli, U., Meijs, L. C. M. P., & Ranade, S. (2000). Public perception of “who is a volunteer”: An examination of the net-cost approach from a cross-cultural perspective. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 11(1), 45–65.
Hustinx, L. (2010). Institutionally individualized volunteering: Toward a late modern reconstruction. Journal of Civil Society, 6(2), 165–179.
Hustinx, L., Cnaan, R. A., & Handy, F. (2010). Navigating theories of volunteering: A hybrid map for a complex phenomenon. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 40(4), 410–434.
ILO. (2011). Manual on the measurement of volunteer work. Genève: International Labour Office.
ILO. (2013). Resolution concerning statistics of work, employment and labour underutilization. Genève: International Labour Office.
Kousis, M. (2017). Alternative forms of resilience confronting hard economic times. A south European perspective. Partecipazione e Conflitto, 10, 119–135.
La Palombara, J. (1964). Interest groups in Italian politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Ma, J., & Konrath, S. (2018). A century of nonprofit studies: Scaling the knowledge of the field. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 29(6), 1139–1158.
Martinelli, A. (2005). Global modernization: Rethinking the project of modernity. London: Sage.
Meijs, L. C. P. M., & Brudney, J. L. (2007). Winning volunteer scenarios: The soul of a new machine. The International Journal of Volunteer Administration, 24(3), 68–79.
Meijs, L. C. P. M., & Hoogstad, E. (2001). New ways of managing volunteers: Combining membership management and programme management. Voluntary Action, 3(3), 41–61.
Musick, M., & Wilson, J. (2008). Volunteers: A social profile. Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Polanyi, K. (1977). The livelihood of man. New York: Academic Press.
Polanyi, K. (2001) (or.1944).). The great transformation: The political and economic origins of our time (2nd ed.). Boston: Beacon Press.
Putnam, R. (1993). Making democracy work. Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton University Press: Princeton.
Rokkan, S. (1964). Review of the civic culture: Political attitudes and democracy in five nations by Gabriel A. Almond and Sidney Verba. The American Political Science Review, 58(3), 676–679.
Salvati, M., & Sciolla, L. (2016). Leggere l’Italia attraverso le diversità regionali. Il Mulino, 3, 433–440.
Sazzini, M., et al. (2020). Genomic history of the Italian population recapitulates key evolutionary dynamics of both Continental and Southern Europeans. BMC Biology, 18, 51. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-020-00778-4.
Sciolla, L. (1997). Italiani: stereotipi di casa nostra. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Sciolla, L. (2004). La sfida dei valori. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Simsa, R., et al. (2019). Spontaneous volunteering in social crises: Self-organization and coordination. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 48(2_suppl), 103S–122S.
Snyder, M., & Omoto, A. (2008). Volunteerism: Social issues, perspectives and social policy implications. Social Issues and Policy Review, 2(1), 1–36.
Trigilia, C. (1986). Grandi partiti e piccole imprese. Bologna: Il Mulino.
UN General Assembly. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development, 21 October 2015, A/RES/70/1. New York: UN.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division. (2018). Satellite account on nonprofit and related institutions and volunteer work. New York: UN.
Villari, P. (1875). Le lettere meridionali ed altri scritti sulla questione sociale in Italia (1st ed.). Loescher: Torino, 1972.
Wilson, J. (2000). Volunteering. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 215–240.
Wilson, J. (2012). Volunteerism research: A review essay. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 41(2), 176–212.
Wuthnow, R. (1994). Sharing the journey: Support groups and America’s new quest for community. New York: The Free Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Guidi, R., Fonović, K., Cappadozzi, T. (2021). Common Core and Variety of Volunteering: Testing International Standards in Italy. In: Guidi, R., Fonović, K., Cappadozzi, T. (eds) Accounting for the Varieties of Volunteering. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70546-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70546-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-70545-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-70546-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)