Volunteering, social participation and democracy – the heart of matter

For those who choose freely to give their time and labour to those in need, there is a readiness to extend to people they do not know the principles of sociable relating which would otherwise be experienced only within mutually pleasing personal relationships.

At the heart of this show of civility is the promise that the positive experiences of companionship and the bonds of mutual regard can be transformed into forms of civic engagement. This is why volunteering is such a rich source of institutional renewal – because it has the potential to build friendly alliances and forge bonds well beyond the private sphere of kin and personal companions, thereby bringing sociability to the realm of public interaction.

The question we wish to raise at this point, though, is whether this capacity for civility is the only thing volunteering can offer democracy? There is more at stake in the volunteering experience than a sense of delivering and receiving fair treatment from strangers.

Rather, what counts here is the capacity for compassion, kindness and caring. In bringing these qualities into the public domain, volunteers are showing us that civility can also mean caring for ‘generalised others’, thereby showing us democracy’s more human face.