Introduction

Chapter Two identified one particular type of active citizenship as civil commitment. This type of active citizenship is not about political activism but rather about preserving important assets and services in the community, generating social capital and encouraging social cohesion. Citizens actively work together to preserve and protect, to enhance and improve the community in which they live. They provide services to those who would otherwise do without; they keep the wheels turning. They often avoid confrontation and ‘things political’. Following the outline of the claims concerning the third sector that were identified in Chapter Four, this chapter examines further some of the claims that have been made about the role of active citizenship as civil commitment, exploring research relating to the civil commitment of volunteers: where they come from; what motivates them; how they benefit; and what they achieve. Volunteers have been seen as being at the core of social capital generation with volunteerism being oriented to fulfilling social obligations. However, volunteers are not simply passive and obedient subjects but display considerable agency, not only in maintaining existing services and organisations but on occasion in challenging existing practices.

Associationalism

This kind of citizenship as active civil commitment has been explicated through communitarian theory and the theory of associationalism, both of which have been introduced in preceding chapters. Most simply, communitarian theory is based on a commitment to community. Communitarians are concerned to redress the anomie engendered by neoliberalism and the erosion of identity and the lack of social solidarity in modern liberal societies. Communitarian theory rests on the argument that a cohesive and productive society requires cooperative enquiry and cooperative endeavour. To have cooperation it is necessary for members of society to accept their mutual responsibilities (Etzioni, 1996; Tam, 1998). For example, it is only when people embrace a cooperative approach to life that inclusive communities can be built. From this perspective the major task of civil society is to find ways of ensuring cooperative approaches and acceptance of mutual responsibilities. Third sector organisations offer sites for launching and reinforcing such cooperation.

From a communitarian perspective, a strong associational life is the bedrock of civil society. As Edwards (2004, p 18) argues, the most common normative understanding of civil society is based on the view that it provides the sphere, par excellence, where robust associational life is generated.