Volunteer Opportunity - Paid Trip to Russia

[Elena Gapova]

US is not currently a "protestant" country; it probably was at some point,
but then volunteer work was much less popular than now. If the farther from
protestantism, the more volunteer enthusiasm there is, then protestant
ethics cannot be the reason.

The call to a volunteer which we are discussing was followed by a remark
that it could be a great opportunity for a graduate student of Russian, i.e.
NAMED THE INTEREST one might have in pursuing the offer. And there is no
taxation on charity payments. And a student of mine (at umich) told me last
week, that after graduation (her major is anthropology) she thinks of
joining the Peace Corps: "there 's not much to do, you know". And there is
no tradition among elderly people to "rastit' vnukov" the way it is done in
FSU, which leaves them with some extra time. And most people are affiliated
with churches which serve, among ohter things, as "clubs", channeling one's
social interaction and leisure into certain forms (the function of church in
Russia is different) etc.

My point was that there is a complex set of structural reasons for
volunteering, existing "aside" from what people believe is their personal
reason for doing good. Though most engaged in volunteer work honestly
believe that they do it out of humane considerations, it is a part of a
certain structural arrangement with a set of reasons and "rewards" (both
moral and material). In social theory (which is such an unsentimental
killjoy - you cannot feed a duck in a park without thinking "why am I doing
this?"), even if one is helping at an asylym because this gives her the
feeling of being "a good person", this is considered an "interest".

The following example may help to clarify the point. Though most Northerners
belived in abolishing the slavery for moral (democratic, human etc.)
reasons, the "true" (i.e. structural) reason for thinking this way was a
need in free working hands in the industrialized Northern part of the US.
The South thought of the issue very differently, because it was more rural
etc.

In Soviet times, volunteer work was shaped through different formal
structures that currently in the US: subbotniki, volunteer work for "Fond
Mira", stroiotryady etc. It was channeled into bigger projects. As for
homeless etc., these did not exist (as a mass social phenomenon): this is
smth. of which the socialist state was supposed to take care. The
responsibility of the state was to provide for everyone (and the reciprocity
was the loyalty to that state): average citizens "didn't have" to worry
about that.

When, after collapse of state socialism, new social ills were produced in
great numbers, older forms of volunteer work had already been dismantled,
while new structures were not formed yet. Though after Beslan, the amount of
money sent was so huge, that now "they don't know what to do with it".

e.g.


-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Alina Israeli
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2005 11:30 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Volunteer Opportunity - Paid Trip to Russia


>Probably; I just would love to explain about volunteers - why there is not
>enough local help. The reason, besides the one that Alina Israeli pointed
>earlier (to volunteer, you have to have an income), is that in NIS there is
>no place to which people can go with (or through) volunteer work.

This is not exactly the reason. I believe the reason there is vulonteering
in the US is rooted in reformation and protestant church when "good works"
were part of punishment of sinners, and good works were designed to show it
outwardly by caring for the sick and the hungry. I am not a specialist in
religious history, but I am willing to speculate that it spread from there.

As for places to work, there are plenty of sick and plenty of hungry,
except no one is going to admit it. There are homeless who need to be fed.
And then of course there are orphans.

>In the US,
>at least part of volunteers do it to gain experience which they may not
have
>otherwise, or get connections, or a good entry in their resumes (sometimes,
>volunteer work may even lead to employment). In other words, volunteer work
>is a regular part of how social institutions are made.  In NIS, volunteer
>work and formal structures hardly ever overlap, and a line in a resume that
>one volunteered in, say, vosstanovlenie Solovetskogo monastyrya, has only
>"moral value".

Working for "habitat for humanity" (by association with the monastery) has
nothing but "moral value" plus a home for someone who needs one.

Volunteering is done not only in hopes of a job but also after retiring, if
there is desire to do so. My grandfather worked for free (now we would say
volunteered) at a TB clinic near-by after he retired. Where there is will,
there is a way. But there is no tradition.

__________________________
 Alina Israeli
 LFS, American University
 4400 Mass. Ave., NW
 Washington, DC 20016

 phone:    (202) 885-2387
 fax:      (202) 885-1076

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