Citizenship, volunteering and active ageing (original) (raw)

Many voluntary organisations depend greatly on the unpaid services of older volunteers, a significant number of whom are women. Using data from one such organisation in the North East of England, this article uncovers the failure to link debates on citizenship with those on work-life balance, and the impact this has on clarifying citizenship issues as they relate to older people. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, our study found that volunteering is an expression of citizenship for many older people providing networks of support for both volunteer and client. This strong commitment to society and fellow citizens among older people counter-balances individualistic and instrumental reasons for volunteering promoted by the state and market. Our findings suggest that government views of volunteering as a route to paid work, as a panacea for society and therefore needing to be more ‘work-like’, are discordant with the perspectives of older volunteers. Rather ...