This seminar was the third in a series of seminars focusing on volunteering in a fair society organised by IVR in partnership with the ESRC and Northumbria University. This event explored how individuals and communities can most effectively make their voices heard. In this presentation Dr Susan Baines (Reader in social policy) discusses the link between volunteering and social mobility. Past presentations from the Institute of Volunteering Research website can be found at the following location - http://www.ivr.org.uk/ivr-events/ivr-past-events

1. Linking volunteering and social
mobility: New departure or false
start?
Dr Susan Baines
Reader in Social Policy
Department of SocialWork and Social Change
Manchester Metropolitan University
1

2. Volunteering & Social Mobility
 Both prominent in public policy -
 Long tradition of sociological and economic research on social
mobility
 Volunteering research expanding
 Rarely linked together in policy or research – should they be?
 The role of universities
 Reflect on volunteering in policy and research
 What can / should we as researchers contribute?
Volunteering & Social Mobility Northumbria
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3. Social mobility research
3
 Income mobility – economic research based on British birth
cohort studies showed less inter-generational mobility for people
born in 1970 than in 1958 (Blanden et al. 2005) - widely quoted
 Class mobility – sociological research points to structural
mobility (the shape of class structures changed as occupations
grew and declined) as well as individual movement - a different
picture emerges from examining social mobility by class
(Goldthorpe and Mills (2008).

4. Social mobility & policy
4
A cause of concern across the political spectrum
The Government vision for a more socially mobile UK set out in
Opening doors,breaking barriers:A strategy for social mobility Cabinet
Office (2011)
“Improving social mobility is the principal goal of the government’s
social policy.”
Meaning inter-generational social mobility - prioritises policy
interventions on early years and education

5. Volunteering
5
 Public Policy has emphasised volunteering for employability
especially for young people
 Framed as a way to accrue individual benefits in the forms of
experience, contacts, skills
 Some kinds of volunteer experience are valuable for CV
building and gaining labour market skills – we tell our
students so……..

6. Volunteering for employability
“PUT ASIDE
PRECONCEPTIONS:
VOLUNTEERING IS WORK
EXPERIENCE WITH THE
ADDED POSSIBILITY THAT
THE ACT OF CHOOSING TO
BE A VOLUNTEER CAN
SHOW EVEN GREATER
INITIATIVE AND
COMMITMENT.”
MIKE KILLINGLEY, SENIOR MANAGER EXECUTIVE
EDUCATION, HSBC BANK

7. Volunteering as work experience – some
critiques
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 Marginalises volunteers who are unable to seek paid work
 Volunteer using orgs. have other priorities
 Does not fit the caring and neighbouring people value
especially in deprived communities
 Aligns volunteering with welfare-to-work policies - yet one
of the criticisms of welfare-to-work has been that it
devalues non-marketised activity
 Associated with professionalisation of volunteering -
formalised training, selection, appraisal, accreditation etc.
 Risk averse
 Narrow perception of volunteering

8. Making sense of volunteering
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 Mutual aid - individuals with a shared experience or
situation working together to bring about change.
 Philanthropy - altruism towards people who are
perceived as different and less fortunate
Mutual aid and philanthropy are oriented towards social justice,
not individual advancement. Both are part of the history of
volunteering, long predating recent enthusiasm of governments
Highly resonant for volunteers although they rarely use the
actual terms (Baines and Hardill, 2008)

9. Examples of meanings
Philanthropy
“ I feel that I’m fortunate and perhaps I should be doing something to help other
people who are less fortunate....... these are people who live on their own – they
don’t get out very much and me going is important to them”
Mutual aid
“ I think one of the reasons that I do it is because what most of these people are going
through I’ve done it and I’ve come through the other end. I never make the
mistake of saying, I know what you’re going through, because I don’t. I know what
I went through and if its anything like mine then they need the support.”
9

10. Where does volunteering fit into the
vision for a more socially mobile UK?
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 Volunteers to help raise young people’s aspirations - get up to
100,000 people into schools and colleges to talk about their jobs
and careers
 Raise level ofVCS engagement with Sure Start Children’s centres
and boost relationship support thoughVCSOs
 National Citizen Service – (does not use words volunteer or
volunteering)
 WorkTogether will‘develop work skills through volunteering’ (p. 61
not discussed)
Source Opening doors,breaking barriers
So actually not much

11. Social mobility – what makes a
difference
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 Quality, accessible early years education
 Better schools with better teachers and other educational
resources, and a better classroom environment
 Access to professional employment
 Improving health services in poor areas
 Higher Education
Source: ESRC social mobility evidence briefings

12. Universities and social mobility
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 Higher education for students from low income
families
 MMU’s performance on social mobility is particularly
impressive. 38.7 per cent of their undergraduates are from
households with incomes of less than £20,000 a year …. a
contribution to society of £147 million a year in greater
fairness, meritocracy and social inclusion (nef 2011, p.17)
Helping to raise aspirations through mentoring in
schools by students and staff
Evidence from community outreach work [Warwick
University] also demonstrates the difference universities
can make to aspirations (nef 2011, p.19)

13. So what?
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 Volunteering‘in danger of being misunderstood, misused and
over-loaded’ (Worsley, 1999: 75)
 Social mobility is a‘wicked problem’
 Some of the ways research shows it could be advanced seem
unlikely in times of austerity
 Trying to link volunteering in the guise of work preparation and
skill development with social mobility is probably a false start
 Some kinds of volunteering may nevertheless be able to make a
contribution (as in the example of HEI community outreach)
 Researchers interested in volunteering need to ask better
questions
 Over to you ……………

14. Sue Baines
s.baines@mmu.ac.uk