Edizioni FrancoAngeli - Last issue of SOCIOLOGIA E RICERCA SOCIALE (96/2011)

Prefazione. Il volontariato tra principi e pratiche

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Mario Aldo Toscano

Introduction. Triumph, Decline and New Perspectives for the Development of Voluntarism in Italy

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Andrea Salvini
This contribution offers a systematization of aspects tied to the meaning of voluntarism’s presence in Italy’s society. It reconstructs the essential characters of voluntary service and in particular, analyses in depth its dynamics of change, which - as I believe will be clear to the reader by the end of this volume point towards issues of identity, horizons and perspectives. The essay states how triumph, decline and new development perspectives are central moments of a reflection that at the same time contemplates the evolution of the phenomenon of voluntarism in our country, and considers the present changes and future perspectives, which are already revealed by many new elements present in contemporary voluntary service.

Models of Voluntarism. Between Ethics and Politics

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Claudia Damari
Over recent years, the phenomenon of voluntarism has become ever more relevant at a national, European, and even international level. A number of assumptions, some of which problematic, loom over the circumstances and dy-namics of this complex historic and cultural event: among these, the issue of the multiple versions of voluntarism tied to the prevalence of a religious ethic orientation or a secular one. After reconstructing the conceptual basis of the contemporary theoretical and empiric assumptions of voluntarism, the second part of this essay analyses four of the most common welfare states, of which voluntary service is one of the possible institutional and organizational forms: the Scandinavian model, the Anglo-Saxon model, the Continental model and the Mediterranean model. In the likes of a meditative appendix, the reader is presented with a case truly original for a number of historical and cultural reasons: the case of Israel.

Voluntarism in Italy: Dynamics, and Social and Historic Processes

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Gerardo Pastore
Voluntarism has undergone many changes in time, receiving external impulses and expressing internal needs tied to the services and work required. Voluntary service has gone from being a-specific and professionally general, to requiring a more specialized work division. The logic of «pure gratuity», that guided volunteers in the past, is ever more frequently substituted by a principle of reciprocity. This essay offers a vast critical historical reconstruction of the events of this phenomenon in Italy, and proposes an analytical examination of the main orientations that have characterized voluntarism in Italy throughout the years. Voluntarism has undergone many changes in time, receiving external impulses and expressing internal needs tied to the services and work required. Voluntary service has gone from being a-specific and professionally general, to requiring a more specialized work division. The logic of «pure gratuity», that guided volunteers in the past, is ever more frequently substituted by a principle of reciprocity. This essay offers a vast critical historical reconstruction of the events of this phenomenon in Italy, and proposes an analytical examination of the main orientations that have characterized voluntarism in Italy throughout the years.

Voluntarism: a Conceptual Map

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Irene Psaroudakis
The object of this essay is to trace a «conceptual map» of voluntarism, approaching its many features, its multiple definitions and analysis perspectives, in order to comprehend this phenomenon in light of its transformations over the recent years. For this purpose, the main «concepts», are considered at a micro, meso and macro level. Among the elements analyzed are: volunteer actions, «classic voluntarism», «new voluntarism», the role of the social network and its actors, solidarity, gift, reciprocity, identity, volunteer organizations, legislation and governance.

Gift and Appropriation. The Difficult Connection between Welfare and New Forms of Voluntarism

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Matteo Villa
The role of voluntarism has become ever more important in the Italian and European discussions on the crisis and transformation of welfare administration. Unfortunately in many cases it is taken for granted in its forms, meanings, roles and procedures. The risk is that the institutional system may choose to face a crisis by following development strategies on the basis of its own needs and preformed visions. This could lead to greatly distorted effects that force some realities to adapt in contradictory ways and drive others that do not follow such paradigms towards extinction. The essay shows pivotal aspects and possible perspectives of the relationship between the variety of voluntarism forms and the welfare system, focusing on assumptions and points of view that will help comprehend some of the recent developments and diverse experiences.

Organizational Models in Italian Voluntarism

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Antonella Cirillo
The Author initially examines the organizational phenomenon of voluntarism within the broader context of the institutional restructuring processes of modern welfare, and proceeds to analyze the main structural characteristics of voluntary organizations in Italy and the different - and sometimes conflicting - organizational dynamics that can currently be found. These are, in general, consequence of the «tension» that has matured within the associations between the original mission and the professionalization of the services, between tradition and innovation. The aim is to analyze organizations’ attitudes towards strategic management of change and towards the development of project management autonomy, essential to preserve social identity in the process of professionalizing services.

Reflections on the Identity of Volunteers: towards Pluralism of Altruism

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Carolina Nuti
This essay focuses on the specific characteristics of the changes that voluntarism is facing, through the voices of those who daily live this reality. The experiences told by volunteers show profiles that are quite different from one another, where traditional and new elements interlace in ways that can hardly be described through abstract categories. The stories clearly show that individuals give numerous meanings to volunteer work, and that such meanings change continuously according to different frames of reference and different phases of life.

Paradossi e direzioni verso il futuro. Per un volontariato aperto e reticolare

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Andrea Salvini

Literature Review of Italian Voluntarism 1999-2010

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT

Luca Corchia
In order to access and comprehend the transformations of Italian voluntarism, one method to gain a viewpoint internal to the social science, is to study the history of surveys, analysis and considerations which, starting from the passage of Law 266/1991, have grown, diversified and been directed to certain trends, following the dynamic evolution of their object of study.

Abstracts

Wed, 15 May 2012 8:00:00 GMT