Volunteerism in the University Culture

This project examines how undergraduate and graduate students at a university in the Southern United States utilize and conceptualize volunteering at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, a time when volunteerism is on the rise despite a severe economic crisis. I was interested in...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Blocker, Stephanie V
Format: Others
Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/anthro_theses/49
http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=anthro_theses
Description
Summary:This project examines how undergraduate and graduate students at a university in the Southern United States utilize and conceptualize volunteering at the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, a time when volunteerism is on the rise despite a severe economic crisis. I was interested in taking an anthropological approach to explore the reasons that people volunteered as well as how their decisions about volunteering might be impacted by different aspects of their identity, including their ethnicity, gender identity, student status, and affiliation with student groups. Based on in-depth interviews and surveys conducted with five undergraduate and five graduate students, I learned about their motivations for volunteering and their perceptions about participating in volunteer activities.