Volunteering as a complex social phenomenon today

Abstract

The article analyzes the prevailing in modern intellectual discourse and the international practice of the definition of volunteering, found that it is considered as a conscious, voluntary and unpaid activity (of a person or non-governmental organization) aimed at achieving a social effect in the process of solving social, economic, environmental or other challenges of modern society within the limits of one’s professional competences and in one's free time free from the main work. It is emphasized that such approaches have a framework nature and are designed to promote development and encourage the population to engage in socially useful activities, which will help reduce social tension caused by the state’s inability to respond to society’s demands or other contemporary challenges. It is emphasized that intergovernmental organizations, state institutions, business corporations and even representatives of the third sector can directly or indirectly use free social resources to achieve their economic interests, thereby transforming volunteering into a technology of social management and a hybrid social phenomenon. It contributes to the building of symbolic capital and public trust, as important social assets that open wide prospects for self-presentation of both individuals and entire organizations. It was revealed that hybridity is manifested not only in the organizational and institutional conditions of volunteering, but also in the variety of motivations manifested in the participants of non-governmental volunteering projects.