"This is a major contribution to the literature on social participation and voluntary action. It is the first systematic ethnographic study I know that treats volunteers and the institutions they create." -- John Van Til, author of Growing Civil Society "Students and faculty interested in the issue of homelessness will find the book instructive... Recommended." -- Choice Why do people volunteer, and what motivates them to stick with it? How do local organizations create community? How does voluntary participation foster moral development in volunteers to create a better citizenry? In this fascinating study of volunteers at the Partnership for the Homeless in New York City, Robert S. Ogilvie provides bold and engaging answers to these questions. He describes how volunteer programs such as the Partnership generate ethical development in and among participants and how the Partnership's volunteers have made it such a continued success since the early 1980s. Ogilvie's examination of voluntarism suggests that the American ethic is essential for sustaining community life and to the future well-being of a democratic society.
Author(s): Robert S. Ogilvie
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 288
Cover......Page 1
TOC......Page 6
Acknowledgments......Page 8
Introduction: Voluntarism and the American Ethic......Page 12
1. The Partnership for the Homeless: The Tradition ofChurches Helping the Homeless in New York......Page 20
2. In the Church Shelters......Page 42
3. Why People Volunteer in Church Shelters and WhyThey Keep at It......Page 82
4. The Mediating Role of the Church Shelters......Page 105
5. The Moral Effects of the Volunteer Experience......Page 158
6. The Church Shelters as Community-GeneratingInstitutions......Page 182
7. Social Architecture: The Art of Building Community-Generating Institutions......Page 210
Conclusion......Page 236
Appendix: Research Methods......Page 242
Notes......Page 248
Bibliography......Page 266
Index......Page 274
