Who (else) is Involved? - How Voluntary Associations Connect and Separate Us

自2000年代初以来，志愿服务率一直稳定在一个高水平（约为100%）。30%的志愿者每月至少一次）在英国和不断上升，在德国。在社会学文献中，志愿服务被视为促进社会良好运作的重要因素。跨越种族、阶级或政治派别等各种明显界限的桥梁关系被认为是在志愿组织内部形成的。因此，非营利组织在个人和群体的社会融合以及整个社会凝聚力方面发挥着至关重要的作用。志愿服务的研究已经被忽视了几十年，但自20世纪90年代以来，社会学家的兴趣越来越大。大多数研究集中在美国，从而留下了研究空白在欧洲。在我的DPHIL项目中，我的目标是解决这样一个问题：“从因果的角度来看，志愿服务的前因后果是什么？”".由于目前在这一领域的研究仅限于相关模式的检测，我想调查的因果关系的基础上严格的统计方法。从更为实质性的角度来看，本文由两部分组成。在第一部分中，我的目的是研究人格特质，时间禀赋和配偶动力学对开始和退出志愿服务的可能性的因果关系。应利用小组数据分析和利用德国的一项自然实验（实行短期工作），调查志愿工作的这些前提条件之间的因果关系。这将有助于在工作和福祉领域对生产力的研究。在第二部分中，研究了积极参与志愿组织对健康、福祉和社会信任等结果的影响，这些结果都与ESRC优先研究领域有关。这些影响也将使用面板数据分析进行检查。

Since the early 2000s, volunteering rates are stable on a high level (approx. 30% volunteer at least once a month) in the UK and constantly rising in Germany. In the sociological literature, volunteerism is seen as an important contributor for the well-functioning of society. Bridging ties across various salient boundaries, such as ethnicity, class or political affiliation, are assumed to be formed within voluntary organizations. Thus, voluntarism plays a vital role for social integration of individuals and groups, and social cohesion at large. The study of volunteering has been neglected for many decades but there is a growing interest of sociologists since the 1990s. Most research focuses on the United States thereby leaving a research gap on Volunteering in Europe. In my DPHIL project, I aim to do tackle the question "What are the antecedents and consequences of volunteering from a causal perspective?". As current research in this field is limited to the detection of correlational patterns, I would like to investigate causal links based on rigorous statistical methods. From a more substantively perspective, my thesis consists of two parts. In the first part, I aim to study the causal effects of personality traits, time endowment and spousal dynamics on the likelihood of starting and quitting volunteering. Using panel data analysis and exploiting a natural experiment in Germany (introduction of short-time work), the causal relevance of these antecedents for volunteering should be investigated. This would contribute to the research on productivity in the realms of work and well-being. In the second part, the effects of being active in voluntary organizations on outcomes like health, well-beingand social trust, which are all related to the ESRC-priority research areas, are studied. These effects will be examined using panel data analysis, too.