Young Volunteers Identity Shift: Do Communities Still Matter?

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Abstract

If you are 18-30 years old, there are a lot of “GenZ” labels for you these days. Some of them are slightly unflattering: fragile, egoistic, stressed, defeatist, overloaded with stimulus and so on. There is always superiority of quantitative and purposive data, that become non-academically interpreted on media platforms and build up public misconception.

I work with young people for years, mostly in terms of volunteer activities. And I must say that I am constantly fascinated with their urge to “do something good”, desire to be part of some collective (not individualistic) identity and strive for positive change in today's society. There are even some quantitative data supporting this point of view. Active engagement of youth is on the rise. While in 2019 there were reports of 57 % of young adults not caring about civic participation, in 2022 we witnessed hoped-for twist: 58 % people in the age group 18-30 years expressed a significant willingness to engage in a positive social change.

But my goal as a doctoral researcher is not to interpret quantitative data. In the form of biographical interviews and focus groups I try to establish qualitative probes towards the topics of volunteer’s identity and resilience in the context of the emerging adulthood life stage. This effort of mine is an extension of the findings of my master's thesis, which was based on the reflexive and collective volunteer model. My research method is based on - at least from my point of view - promising merge of sociological phenomena of reflexive modernization, emerging adulthood, volunteer identity and Social Cure theory.

I would like to address the seminar and conference participants through a poster presentation and create a platform to discuss the topic of emerging adults and their volunteer identity, because I believe there lies a great innovative potential for non-profit organization and initiatives in terms of attracting the attention of young adults and use this great energy to maximize the impact of their work. Volunteer communities may bear the potential of “emerging adulthood habitat”, from where a young person can infer her or his social identity, leading to better resilience and at the same time has a chance to give back some added value to the society.

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Author

• Ondrej Hrubes