Volunteers and volunteering in leisure: Social science perspectives

Abstract

Leisure has been widely examined within the context of social science theory. This article adopts a broad approach, examining a range of social science disciplines and applying them to specific phenomena located within the leisure field, namely, volunteers and volunteering in leisure settings. In a disciplinary sense, the sociological view focuses upon the conceptualisation of volunteering as leisure, the psychological view seeks to understand motivations driving volunteering, while the perspective of economists supplements these standpoints in terms of why people volunteer and further examines the value of volunteer contributions. Comparative analysis of the perspectives enunciated within these key disciplines provides for a fuller picture of the status of research relating to leisure volunteers and volunteering. Accordingly, this article aims to identify gaps in current knowledge, draws out conclusions for an improved understanding of this area as well as to enhance comprehension of disciplinary contributions to the study of leisure phenomena. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.