Doctoral Dissertation Improvement: Volunteering and Democratization

博士论文改进：志愿服务和民主化

• 批准号: 1409243
• 负责人: Thomas Janoski
• 金额: $ 1.19万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-01 至 2015-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1409243&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Improvement; Volunteering; Democratization

SES-1409243Thomas JanoskiSara R. CompionUniversity of KentuckyThe research addresses a significant gap in knowledge concerning volunteering in emerging democracies, by contributing an African-centered, sociological perspective to theories of civil society. The co-PI will employ a sociological approach and the notion of civic capital to study how associational volunteering shapes and is being shaped by democratization. The researcher will use a mixed-method, cross-national comparative approach to study domestic volunteering in 20 democratizing African countries. First, the study will identify a profile of Africans who actively belong to volunteer organizations. Next it contextualizes volunteering as a function of the varying civic and economic climates in which these individuals live. This is done through a multi-level statistical analysis of the 2008 Afrobarometer survey data. Finally, ethnographic case studies in South Africa and Zambia will be completed to analyze how cultural repertoires, values, and identity shape notions of democratic citizenship and inform volunteering behavior from the bottom up. Findings from this research will identify the types and characteristics of people who actively join associational volunteer organizations in 20 African countries. The quantitative models will reveal if democratic advancement facilitates individual volunteering. The qualitative case studies will offer explanations about why and how people volunteer, and if their volunteering builds their civic capital which in turn fosters democracy. Broader ImpactsResearch findings will contribute to our understanding of how the deeply intertwined relationship between associational volunteering and democracy unfolds within developing and democratizing contexts. Results will have broader scholarly potential by contributing to comparative, quantitative analysis of African countries that increases the generalizability of existing theories on civil society to countries beyond the West. The findings can direct future efforts dedicated to maximizing the civic action of volunteering populations, and building targeted strategies for encouraging and recruiting those who are not yet civically engaged. State planners can use the evidence from this study to direct foreign aid towards those volunteer activities that increase the civic capital necessary for democratic nation building. Finally, non-profit organizations can benefit from the best-case scenarios on how to make their organizations more democratic, participatory, and civically oriented.

SES-1409243 Thomas Janoski Sara R.这项研究通过为民间社会理论提供一个以非洲为中心的社会学视角，解决了新兴民主国家在志愿服务知识方面的重大差距。共同PI将采用社会学的方法和公民资本的概念，研究协会志愿服务如何形成和正在形成的民主化。 研究人员将采用混合方法、跨国比较方法，研究20个正在民主化的非洲国家的国内志愿服务。首先，这项研究将查明积极参加志愿组织的非洲人的概况。其次，它将志愿服务作为这些人所生活的不同公民和经济气候的一种功能。这是通过对2008年非洲晴雨表调查数据进行多层次统计分析完成的。最后，将完成在南非和赞比亚的民族志案例研究，以分析文化剧目，价值观和身份如何塑造民主公民的概念，并自下而上地告知志愿服务行为。这项研究的结果将确定在20个非洲国家积极加入协会志愿者组织的人的类型和特点。定量模型将揭示民主进步是否促进了个人志愿服务。定性案例研究将解释人们为什么和如何志愿服务，以及他们的志愿服务是否建立了他们的公民资本，从而促进民主。更广泛的影响研究结果将有助于我们了解协会志愿服务和民主之间的深刻交织的关系如何在发展和民主化的背景下展开。 研究结果将有助于对非洲国家进行比较和定量分析，从而提高现有民间社会理论对西方以外国家的普遍适用性，从而具有更广泛的学术潜力。研究结果可以指导未来的努力，致力于最大限度地提高志愿人员的公民行动，并制定有针对性的战略，鼓励和招募那些尚未参与公民活动的人。国家规划者可以利用这项研究的证据，将外国援助引向那些增加民主国家建设所需的公民资本的志愿活动。最后，非营利组织可以从如何使其组织更加民主，参与和以公民为导向的最佳案例中受益。