From Community Based Identities to Individual Benefits for Volunteers: A Comparison of Three Sporting Events
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to explore and identify different types of volunteers at three\nmajor sporting events: the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria; the\n2012 GöteborgsVarvet (a half-marathon race), Sweden; and the 2012 FIS World Ski Flying Championships in Vikersund, Norway. Altogether, 37 volunteers were interviewed,\nand Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field, as well as modernization theories, were\nemployed in the analyses. Data revealed that all three groups of volunteers had different\nmotives for volunteer work. The young, international volunteers at the Winter Youth\nOlympic Games were concerned with learning and gaining experience; the volunteers\nat Vikersund were motivated by the commitment to the local community; while the\nvolunteers at GöteborgsVarvet volunteered for their local sport club. In conclusion, we\nargue that there is an increased complexity of volunteer patterns. Theoretically speaking,\nthere is a difference between subfields of volunteering which fit various individual habitus. Clearly, modern volunteers, particularly young people, extend the complexity of the sport field and the volunteering field.
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2258443450