Does Volunteerism Increase the Political Engagement of Young Newcomers? Assessing the Potential of Individual and Group-Based Forms of Unpaid Service

Abstract/Resume The author examines whether youth and immigrant status--identity markers which have been linked to marginalisation from the formal political arena--are associated with lower rates of volunteerism. The question is timely as volunteerism has been touted as the key to reviving waning rates of participation and interest in voting. Using sample data from the 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, it was found that foreign-born youths aged between 15 and 34 years were generally less involved in formal, informal, and associational membership activities than their Canadian-born counterparts. Membership in volunteer organisations, rather than unpaid service largely performed for other individuals, was more likely to stimulate higher levels of electoral turnout and attentiveness to news and current affairs. While volunteerism is not the panacea for growing rates of youth disengagement from formal participation in Canadian politics, it can help reverse these trends. Governments should consider recruiting more young newcomers into the voluntary sector and reforming high school graduation requirements to include mandatory student memberships in volunteer organisations. L' auteur examine si les jeunes ou les immigrants recus--des marqueurs de l'identite qui ont ete lies a la marginalisation de l'arene politique formelle--sont associes a des taux de volontarisme moins eleves. Cette question tombe a point etant donne qu'on a tellement vante le volontarisme comme facteur cle pour aviver les taux de participation decroissants et l'interet a aller voter. A l'aide de donnees-echantillons tirees de l'Enquete nationale de 2000 sur le don, le benevolat et la participation, on a decouvert que les jeunes nes a l'etranger ages de 15 a 34 ans, en general, participaient a moins d'activites associatives formelles et informelles que leurs pairs nes au Canada. L'affiliation a des organisations benevoles, plutot que le service non remunere rendu a d'autres personnes, etait plus susceptible de generer des niveaux plus eleves dans la participation electorale et d'accroitre l'interet envers l'actualite et les affaires courantes. Bien que le volontarisme ne soit pas une panacee pour stopper la croissance des taux de desengagement chez les jeunes a l'endroit de la politique canadienne, il peut contribuer a renverser ces tendances. Les gouvernements devraient considerer recruter plus de nouveaux venus dans le secteur benevole et reformer les exigences d'obtention de diplomes d'etudes secondaires de facon a inclure l'affiliation etudiante obligatoire a des organisations benevoles. INTRODUCTION In an era marked by the erosion of public confidence in government (Nevitte, 1996), plummeting electoral turnout rates (Blais et al., 2002), and budget-conscious governments withdrawing from the provision of public services, volunteerism is increasingly being touted as the key to promoting active citizenship and restoring faith in democratic institutions. During the 1997 Canadian federal election, the Liberal government described the voluntary sector, comprising 175,000 charities, non-profit and grassroots organisations, as a third pillar of society alongside government and business (Phillips, 2001). The renewed interest in volunteerism can be traced to studies showing that strong voluntary networks benefit societies. This is because involvement in community service and environmental protection groups, canvassing for charities, and coaching sports teams, are activities that are said to build capital, or the norms of generalised reciprocity and social trust that nurture the capacity for collective action (Putnam, 2000:19-21). The benefits accruing to communities with a vibrant tradition of volunteerism range from economic prosperity, a more equitable distribution of wealth, and policy innovation (1993; 2000), to higher levels of electoral turnout, political interest, and trust amongst immigrants (Togeby, 1999; Fennema and Tillie, 1999; 2001; van Heelsum, 2002). …

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