Volunteering is one of those phenomena which, despite the limited number of people actually involved in it, is seen as highly important for the proper functioning of society. In fact, volunteering and active participation in voluntary associations are considered to be key components of civil society; it is felt that they generate social cohesion and societal self-regulation as well as strengthening political democracy by developing individual citizenship and organizing countervailing powers. Issues such as these have gained momentum in recent years, especially since Putnam's publications in the 1990s on civic community and democracy in Italy and on the decline of social capital in the United States. However, interest in these issues in fact dates back to the time of the Civic Culture project carried out in the 1950s and 1960s by Almond and Verba, and even much earlier to Tocqueville's famous study Democracy in America in the 1830s. All of these studies, and many more, stress the importance of voluntary civic engagement for the development and maintenance of civilized societal cohesion and political democracy. This research tradition addresses volunteering as just one form of voluntary social and political involvement that might well be linked with other forms, such as passive and active membership of voluntary associations, incidental political activism, or individual involvement in public discourse. However, most studies on volunteering are written in another tradition that is more specifically directed toward direct helping behavior, service delivery, and unpaid work.

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1 • Volunteering and Values: An Introduction.- Volunteering.- Background.- Outcomes.- Structure of the Book.- References.- 2 • All in the Eyes of the Beholder? Perceptions of Volunteering Across Eight Countries.- The Questionnaire.- A Cross-Cultural Analysis.- Discussion and Implications.- References.- 3 • Volunteering in Global Perspective.- The Rate and Scope of Volunteering in Various Countries.- Defining Volunteering.- Volunteering Rates by Nation.- The Fields in Which Volunteers Are Active.- Social Resources Theory.- Discussion and Conclusions.- References.- 4 • Modernization and Volunteering.- Volunteering in Knowledge Societies.- Modernization and Cultural Change: Two Dimensions of Cross-Cultural Variation.- Intergenerational Differences in Membership and Volunteering.- Three Types of Volunteering.- Conclusions.- References.- 5 • Institutional Roots of Volunteering: Toward a Macro-Structural Theory of Individual Voluntary Action.- Volunteering in 24 Countries: Major Findings.- Explaining Patterns of Volunteering.- Summary and Conclusions.- References.- 6 • Do People Who Volunteer Have a Distinctive Ethos? A Canadian Study.- Prologue and Guiding Questions.- Data and Analysis Strategy.- Analysis.- Concluding Commentary.- References.- 7 • A Humanistic Perspective on the Volunteer-Recipient Relationship: A Mexican StudyIll.- A Humanistic Approach to Volunteering.- Volunteering as Serving and as Helping.- An Empirical Study with Mexican Volunteers.- The Dynamics of the Volunteer-Recipient Relationship.- Outcomes and Conclusions.- References.- 8 • From Restitution to Innovation: Volunteering in Postcommunist Countries.- Marxist Theory and the Practice of Volunteering.- Dynamics of Volunteering in Postcommunist Countries.- Volunteering inLithuania.- Conclusion: The Future of Volunteering.- References.- 9 • Volunteering in Romania: A Rara Avis.- Conceptual Delimitations and Theoretical Background.- Individual Determinants of Volunteering in Romania.- Contextual Determinants of Volunteering in Romania.- Conclusions.- References.- 10 • Generations and Organizational Change.- Introduction: Where Have All the Volunteers Gone?.- Design and Data.- Generational Differences Reflect and Cause Social Change.- The Results: Attitudes toward Voluntary Organizing.- What Distinguishes New Organizations from Traditional Ones?.- Toward a New Organizational Society?.- References.- 11 • Volunteering, Democracy, and Democratic Attitudes.- Some Theoretical Considerations.- Data and Measurements.- Analyses.- References.- 12 • Cultivating Apathy in Voluntary Associations.- The Ideal.- Volunteers Encouraging Each Other to Care.- We Accomplish a Lot: The Frontstage Is for Volunteer Groups.- Backstage Complaints and Recognition of Problems.- Officials Reinforce Volunteers' Political Avoidance.- The Culture of Political Avoidance.- Bridging Private and Public: The Strange Case of Child-Centered Civic Life in the United States.- References.