Volunteering and income inequality: cross-national relationships

Veal, AJ; Nichols, G

Volunteering and income inequality: cross-national relationships

Veal, AJ

Nichols, G

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Publisher:: Springer Verlag
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 2017, 28 (1), pp. 379 - 399 (21)
Issue Date:: 2017-02

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Veal, AJ https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1082-0080	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Nichols, G	en_US
dc.date.issued	2017-02	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 2017, 28 (1), pp. 379 - 399 (21)	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1573-7888	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/124031
dc.description.abstract	Wilkinson and Pickett, in their 2009 book The Spirit Level, found that, in rich countries, income inequality was negatively associated with a range of indicators of well-being, but they did not consider the relationship with volunteering. This paper seeks to fill that gap. Using existing data sources, it shows that, among European countries, higher levels of volunteering are associated with lower levels of income inequality. The relationship is particularly strong for regular and sport-related volunteering. The basic Spirit Level thesis is therefore confirmed as applicable to volunteering. However, while the thesis involves just one theoretical explanation for the income inequality/well-being relationship, namely status anxiety, in the case of volunteering, other variables are also found to be at play, including government social spending, available leisure time and geo-historical traditions. It is concluded that, while high levels of volunteering, as a form of social capital, can be seen as one of a number of features of more equal societies, disentangling cause and effect may require a more holistic approach to understanding its contribution to the generation and sustaining of social well-being.	en_US
dc.publisher	Springer Verlag	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1007/s11266-016-9818-9.	en_US
dc.rights	This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11266-016-9818-9..	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Political Science & Public Administration	en_US
dc.title	Volunteering and income inequality: cross-national relationships	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	28	en_US
utslib.for	1607 Social Work	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1605 Policy and Administration	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	28	en_US

Abstract:

Wilkinson and Pickett, in their 2009 book The Spirit Level, found that, in rich countries, income inequality was negatively associated with a range of indicators of well-being, but they did not consider the relationship with volunteering. This paper seeks to fill that gap. Using existing data sources, it shows that, among European countries, higher levels of volunteering are associated with lower levels of income inequality. The relationship is particularly strong for regular and sport-related volunteering. The basic Spirit Level thesis is therefore confirmed as applicable to volunteering. However, while the thesis involves just one theoretical explanation for the income inequality/well-being relationship, namely status anxiety, in the case of volunteering, other variables are also found to be at play, including government social spending, available leisure time and geo-historical traditions. It is concluded that, while high levels of volunteering, as a form of social capital, can be seen as one of a number of features of more equal societies, disentangling cause and effect may require a more holistic approach to understanding its contribution to the generation and sustaining of social well-being.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/124031