Hans-Peter Qvist

Secular and religious volunteering among immigrants and natives in Denmark

During the last 20–30 years Western societies have witnessed large scale migration from the Global South. This has given rise to important challenges in securing the social, civic and political integration of non-Western immigrants into Western societies. Previous research has suggested that participation in volunteering in civil society can serve as a ‘stepping stone’ towards integration for immigrants. Whilst the previous studies have shown marked gaps in the propensity to participate in volunteering between immigrants and natives, little work has been done to identify the mechanisms that explain these gaps. In this study, high-quality survey data, linked with data from administrative registers, are used, with the application of logistic regression based on the Karlson–Holm–Breen method to conduct mediation analysis. The mediation analysis shows that non-Western immigrants are significantly less likely to participate in secular volunteering compared to natives; however, over half of this gap is explained by an indirect effect via socio-economic status, self-rated health, generalized trust, informal social networks and the intergenerational transmission of volunteering. Moreover, the mediation analysis suggests that non-Western immigrants are more likely to participate in religious volunteering: this is completely explained by a strong indirect effect occurring via religiosity.

Mainstreaming Effects on Volunteering?: The Case of Denmark

Abstract The aim of this article is to investigate whether and to what extent changes in the structural preconditions for volunteering have had an effect on the relative importance of ‘classic predictors’ of volunteering within two areas: (1) socio-economic and status variables that function as resources for civic engagement and (2) value orientations that guide volunteering. Arguably, upward changes in the level of human capital, such as education, or changes in values that put more emphasis on, for example, social responsibility, could be expected to lead to an increase in the relative importance of these variables because the groups who possess such resources or express such attitudes would be more likely to enter into the volunteer labour force. If this is the case, then we would expect to see increasing differences in the likelihood of volunteering between high- and low-status groups. On the other hand, it could be argued that it is the distribution and diffusion of such resources and values that matter. If, for instance, education has become more widespread and covers larger proportions of the population, it is also possible that the relative importance of education has diminished. In this case, we would see a mainstreaming effect on volunteering because this activity becomes more normal, independent of class and status. Finally, it is also possible that volunteering is relatively resistant to wider structural changes in society or at least experience a time lag in the effect of such changes. Based on an empirical analysis of Danish survey data from 1990 to 2008, we argue that the idea of a mainstreaming effect should be taken seriously.

Trends in Volunteering in Scandinavia

In this chapter, we examine participation rate and time use trends in volunteering in Scandinavia during the period from the beginning of the 1990s until the mid-2010s. The aim of the analysis is twofold. First, we aim to provide a descriptive analysis of the trends in volunteering in Scandinavia during the period under investigation. Second, we aim to determine whether and to what extent the socio-demographic and institutional changes in the Scandinavian societies during this period can explain the observed trends in volunteering. The results show that the overall levels of participation in volunteering are high and stable in the Scandinavian countries, with a small upward trend. The participation levels are all high in international comparisons, but they are markedly higher in Norway and Sweden than in Denmark. Volunteers’ contributions of time appear relatively stable in Norway, but Denmark has witnessed a slight decline and Sweden has witnessed a slight increase. The explanatory analysis revealed that nearly half of the upward trend in the levels of volunteering can be attributed to the expansion of education in the Scandinavian countries. The explanatory analysis also indicated that the gap in the levels of volunteering between Sweden and Norway on the one hand, and Denmark on the other hand, cannot be attributed to socio-demographic differences between the countries, as the gap is left unchanged when controlling for socio-demographic factors.