Navigating in the organisation

To enter in, and achieve influence in, a field, it is necessary to have a certain capital structure. It varies which types of capital that is necessary in a field, but building capital is crucial for the socialisation process.

Capital in FDF

The three forms of capitals; incorporated, objectified, and institutionalised will quickly be summarised: As already pointed out, it is evident that the internal volunteers’ internalised cultural capital is embedded in habitus. In objectified form you find songbooks, the blue union shirt (forbundsskjorte), buildings, and the FDF shield. In institutionalised form there are qualifying courses. E.g. becoming an instructor in kayaking, climbing, canoeing that is needed when engaging in activities with the children.

It is difficult for the external volunteers in FDF to build cultural capital because everyone else has incorporated the cultural capital and it is thus inseparable from habitus. That is why it is more difficult for new volunteers, who has not developed an FDF habitus, to become socialised. Take for instance respondent 7 who has recently entered the organisation and has not built cultural capital:

“I’m still a little new, I’m not completely there and I’m a little heavy to drag around maybe, but besides that I think I have adjusted quite well out there.”

In FDF, you build cultural capital by watching and learning from the older and more experienced volunteers. You watch how they handle children, which activities they make, and which traditions and rituals they adhere to. This pattern was characteristic for every

respondent. Learning by doing or trial and error was often used to explain how they developed skills as volunteers. The role model is important as it sets the standard for new volunteers and thus seniority defines the field. There is no formal volunteer education or training offered, which causes this way of learning. Hence nothing is explicated; building capital happens by observation.

Some of the external volunteers in FDF have no idea of the organisation they are part of; they only know their local unit. We believe that socialisation also demands knowledge about the national organisation – a way to reach that could be in the shape of institutionalised capital; educating as an instructor in certain outdoor activities or by being an instructor at a national course or through committees or projects. But this is not easy due to a prevailing

‘encouragement-culture’; where you have to be asked in order to engage in this type of work outside the unit. This is difficult for the external volunteers who do not know anyone outside the unit and does not have sufficient cultural capital. The internal volunteers who have already built cultural and social capital are therefore asked and in that way a negative spiral arises; because the external volunteers lack cultural capital, they will never be asked and therefore they will never be acquainted with the greater organisation, which would have provided cultural capital. This also means that new volunteers in FDF will probably never influence the field.

Capital in URK

In URK, the academic habitus is incorporated cultural capital. In objectified form URK has a special song, a clap and the Red Cross logo. In URK educational certificates are institutionalised cultural capital.

The volunteers’ first meeting with the organisation is a formal introduction as already described. The volunteers are informed about the organisation and given brochures to read, which make it possible for them to build cultural capital by reading. Seniority never becomes predominant since the volunteers usually do not stay in the organisation more than ten years.

Since the field is changing fast, the perception of the relevant cultural capital changes as well.

Once, cultural capital was entrepreneurship and new ideas in the grassroots organisation and today, cultural capital is structure and skills as several respondents mentioned. It is less obvious to start up new things because URK has formulated concepts to follow for each activity. Hence it is not about creating and inventing, it is about completing the activities with the right competences. What defines the field in URK is therefore not accumulation of cultural capital, instead it is relevant and qualified cultural capital.

It is easy in URK to gain relevant cultural capital outside the field for instance by education, which is considered institutionalised cultural capital in URK. The cultural capital of the respondents can be transferred from other fields and it is therefore a mixture of theoretical knowledge from their studies and practical experience gained in URK. In this way, cultural capital is built in an interplay between the study and URK. Further, URK is ensuring that the volunteers build cultural capital by implementing a learning strategy, which include a formalised education of the volunteers in URK, as mentioned by the executive director (Interview 15). In that way the necessary cultural capital is explicated.

As we argued, an academic habitus is important for navigating in the field. However, this is a contrast to the users in URK; the vulnerable children. The following quote shows that respondent 14 needed an understanding of the children’s surroundings in order to help them. He suddenly realised the difference between his and the children’s habitus. He had recently moved from Jutland to Copenhagen, when beginning at the homework café:

“I was raised in a very protective environment so for me it was new and libera-ting to see other sides than my relatively good sides of life.”

His own upbringing has been a major influence on his habitus and by watching the children’s environment, he realises that they are raised in a completely different field that he would not be able to manage in, because he has no cultural capital or a developed habitus for that. But by watching the children at Blågaards Plads, he suddenly understands the background of these children and this makes him able to help the children better when they show up at the homework café because he thereby has gained cultural capital to use in the field of URK. A lot of the cultural capital, needed in URK, can be acquired through reading. However, in order to understand URK’s target group you have to experience some things as well to gain sufficient cultural capital. This has to happen in interaction with the children.

Transformation of capitals

Capitals can be transformed into other forms of capital. In URK, it is evident how the respondents attempt or actually transform their social and cultural capital into economic capital. The competences that they have built in URK become determining when applying for jobs. Because the volunteers have gained experience within a specific area, such as HR or communications, they can use that as an actual asset in situations where they are negotiating jobs and salary. This became obvious with respondent 13 who had a conscious strategy to convert the competences and experiences, she achieved in URK, into a real job.

Her workplace told her that the experiences from URK were the main reason for hiring.

Many of the volunteers in URK emphasise the importance of building a social network.

This could also be a part of a strategy to convert into economic capital, if their social network is used for getting a job. This tendency of transforming capitals does not seem present in FDF.