Nonconformist activists and docile volunteers: a qualitative study of social perception of activism and volunteering in four countries

DELFINO, G.; ZLOBINA, A.; DAVILA, M. C. ; MATINA, O.

San Antonio

Congreso; 41th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology (ISPP); 2018

International Society of Political Psychology

Fostering social participation is important because it is linked to social capital, increased individual wellbeing and life satisfaction, and represents an important element of democratic functioning of a society. However, this participation can take very different forms ranging from donations to sociopolitical activism, and there is no sufficient conceptual and empirical clarity regarding the goals each of them pursue, the models of social change or cohesion they promote, or social perception of people who engage in them. We conducted a cross-cultural qualitative study focused on the social representations of two forms of social participation namely, volunteering and activism. University students in Spain, Argentina, Azerbaijan, and Russia took part in semi structured focus groups (8 in total, two groups per country) and discussed similarities and differences between volunteering and activism. The results of thematic analysis show an important universal trend in representing volunteers as more agreeable, altruistic, and likeable persons and activists as more unconventional, unpleasant, and obstinate. Activism was perceived as more demanding, being a life style, and truly promoting social and political change, while volunteerism was represented as more opportunistic, less central to the self, and focused on small observable changes such as immediate suffering alleviation rather than global change and increased social justice and equality. We also found meaningful differences among the countries in how activism and volunteerism are represented. These representations are discussed with regards to motivations to engage in one or another type of participation, and also with respect to the socio-political context of each country.