Students and Voluntarism: Looking into the Motives of Community Service Participants

Growing involvement by American students in voluntary community service projects has been greeted as a sign of renewed idealism and civic-mindedness among the young. Yet prior research suggests that the motivation may be more complex and variable. Based on combined survey and interview data, this st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American educational research journal 1991-10, Vol.28 (3), p.543-556
Main Author: Serow, Robert C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic motivation
Altruism
College Students
Community Organizations
Community Services
Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods
Educational sciences
Higher Education
Ideological education, moral education
Interviews
Motivation
Motivation research
School campuses
Social and Institutional Analysis
Social surveys
Student Attitudes
Student Motivation
Student Volunteers
Teaching methods
Voluntarism
Volunteer labor
Volunteerism
Volunteers
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Summary:Growing involvement by American students in voluntary community service projects has been greeted as a sign of renewed idealism and civic-mindedness among the young. Yet prior research suggests that the motivation may be more complex and variable. Based on combined survey and interview data, this study finds that participants' identification with relatively altruistic motives appears to be grounded in a norm of personal assistance rather than in broader social or political commitments. For many, direct engagement in the problems of vulnerable individuals and groups provides concrete experience and connectedness with people that are not readily available in other dimensions of the student role. While such motivational patterns may suggest the need for increased reflection during the service experience, they coincide with the increasing emphasis now placed on personal caring and empathy in the process of moral development.
ISSN:0002-8312
1935-1011
DOI:10.3102/00028312028003543