Amalie Kyndesen 280785 Vibeke Svenningsen 190782 13. September 2013
Supervisor: Søren Christensen Characters: 240.495
Copenhagen Business School 2013
A perversion of the voluntary sector?
An empirical analysis of FDF and URK
tendencies in the voluntary sector and we wondered if the voluntary sector, as we know it today, was about to be destructed. Our argument that the voluntary sector is heading towards a perversion has to be understood as a development at several levels.
The first change has happened at individual level where the original perception of the volunteer has to be re-evaluated. We discard the traditional perception of volunteers as values seeking. Volunteers’ primary motive to engage in voluntary work is not values.
Instead, we propose that all volunteers have to be understood as universal volunteers.
Universal volunteers have the potential to become volunteers in any voluntary organisation, and coincidence, timing and network is determining for where the universal volunteer engages. After being attached to a voluntary organisation, a socialisation process begins ,where the universal volunteer is transforming into an organisation specific volunteer.
This entails adopting values of the organisation, but the organisation is also shaped by the volunteer’s values and this results in the second change; at organisational level.
From the empirical analysis, we drew a picture of two opposite organisations; FDF, a self- sufficient organisation that has become decoupled from society and URK, a hyper adaptive organisation that has professionalised to an extent, where it resembles a business. A market logic has become predominant in our society and this brings a change in the volunteers, who cause a change in some of the organisations, and this results in a change at sector level. We see that the voluntary sector is about to become dominated by the institutional logic of capitalism. URK has adapted to this logic whereas FDF, as an enclave in society, has maintained the family logic that originally belonged to the civil and voluntary sector. In this way, they define the poles in the voluntary sector. We fear that FDF is becoming a family more than an association and URK is becoming a business rather than an association. This means that no one will resist the market logic dominating the voluntary sector. The feared consequence of this, is a loss of the voluntary sector’s finest task of formation.
1.1 Definitions ...9
1.2 Introduction to FDF ...9
1.3 Introduction to URK ...11
1.4 outline of thesis ...13
2. METHODOLOGY ...14
2.1 Theory of science ...14
2.2 Delimitations ...14
2.3 Comparison of the two organisations ...15
2.4 Empirical data ...15
2.4.1 Interviews as a research tool ... 15
2.4.2 Selection criteria ... 16
2.4.3 Influencing the field ... 18
2.4.4 Trustworthiness of qualitative data ...19
2.4.5 Presentation of respondents ... 20
3. THEORY APPLIED ...22
3.1 Choice of theory ...22
3.2 Ulla Habermann’s motives for volunteering ...23
3.2.1 Research method ... 23
3.2.2 Motives ... 24
3.2.3 Five-motives-dimension ... 24
3.2 Bourdieu’s theory of practice ...26
3.2.1 Socialisation ... 27
3.2.2 Habitus ... 27
3.2.3 Fields ... 28
3.2.4 Capital ... 29
3.3 Søren Christensen’s relational perspective ...32
3.4 Friedland & Alford’s institutional logics...33
3.4.1 The Institutional Perspective ... 33
3.4.2 Institutional isomorphism ... 34
3.4.3 Institutions as myths ... 35
3.4.4 Institutionalised logics ... 36
3.5 Formation ...38
3.5.1 Linguistic use of the term formation ...38
3.5.2 The influence of Grundtvig ... 38
3.6 Criticism of theory ...39
4. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR ...40
4.1 The creation of the state ...40
4.2 The forming of the welfare state ...42
4.3 Transition to the welfare society ...43
4.4 Conclusion ...44
5. ANALYSIS OF THE UNIVERSAL VOLUNTEER ...45
5.1 A break with the values seeking volunteer ...46
5.2 Motives for volunteering in FDF...46
5.3 Motives for volunteering in URK ...49
5.4 Concluding on motives for volunteering ...51
6. ANALYSIS OF SOCIALISATION IN ORGANISATIONS ...53
6.1 Volunteers in FDF ...54
6.1.1 Internal volunteers ... 54
6.1.2 External volunteers ... 57
6.1.3 Conclusion on volunteers in FDF ...63
6.2.2 Activity volunteers ... 66
6.2.3 Conclusion on volunteers in URK ...72
6.3 The development of the organisation specific volunteer ...72
6.3.1 Entering the organisation ... 72
6.3.2 Navigating in the organisation... 73
6.3.3 Organisational culture ... 76
6.4 Concluding on socialisation in FDF and URK ...79
6.5 The relational perspective ...80
6.5.1 The struggle of the professionalised URK ...81
6.5.2 The struggle of the Christian aim in FDF ...83
6.6 Conclusion on the relational perspective ...84
7. ANALYSIS OF THE CONTRADICTORY POLES IN THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR ...85
7.1 Institutional logics in FDF ...86
7.2 Institutional logics in URK ...88
7.3 Comparing FDF and URK ...90
7.4 Formation ...90
7.5 Concluding on logics ...93
8. RECOMMENDATIONS TO FDF AND URK ...93
8.1 Challenges and qualities ...93
8.2 Recommendations for FDF ...97
8.3 Recommendations for URK ...98
9. CONCLUSION ...100
10. DISCUSSION OF THE VOLUNTEER CHARTER ...102
11. REFERENCES ...105
12.2 FDF’s core values ... 117
12.3 URK’s core values ... 119
12.4 Volunteer charter 2013 ... 120
12.5 Volunteer charter 2001 ... 124
Table of figures
Table 1: Thesis outline ...13Table 2: Three major changes in society ...45
Table 3: Overview of motives in FDF ...48
Table 4: Overview of motives in URK ...50
Table 5: Institutional logics of society ...85
Table 6: Scenarios of our society ...92
1. Introduction
“No man is an island, entire of itself, every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
So wrote the English poet John Donne in 1624. The individual cannot be isolated from a social context, as a human being you cannot help being connected by social relations. The realisation of this may be the reason for why people join together and help each other. We are inter-connected and cannot operate alone. But most importantly, we do not want to
‘just make it on our own’. So we engage in our society, we become part of something, we define ego through alter ego. All over the world, people help each other. Not necessary help in the meaning that you are in need. Help could also be in the sense that you support another person practice or spread a certain interest or value. When help is formalised you call it volunteering.
Volunteering and joining associations in Denmark has had an important role in the creation of our modern society and in today’s society, volunteering is much debated.
The most recent examination of volunteering shows that four out of ten are engaged in voluntary work (Frivilligrapport, 2013). This ranks Denmark as one the highest placed nations, when it comes to volunteering.
The voluntary sector is interesting to investigate further, as it is a major defining factor of our modern society. Our society changes constantly and naturally the voluntary sector changes as well. For many decades, and today to no lesser extent, our welfare society has realised heavily on voluntary organisations in co-operation with the public sector. The voluntary sector, though, should not be perceived as a homogenous unity; it contains a variety of organisations both when it comes to area of work and internal orchestration.
The changes in the voluntary sector are not sudden; it is a gradual transition over decades.
In 1990, Kurt Klaudi Klausen described the voluntary sector and organisations like this:
“The relations between the sectors change character, the organisations themselves have undergone dramatic organisational changes, so you can point at a range of partly consistent, partly contradictory tendencies in the direction of centralisation, bureaucratisation and professionalization, increasing involvement in the public decision–making, increasing market–orientation, increasing concentration toward leadership and weighting of self-organisation”
(Klausen & Selle, 1995:15).
Our interest in writing about volunteering originates in a mutual interest and engagement in voluntary organisations and exactly those tendencies, as Klausen describes, have been the root of many interesting discussions and comparisons. The more we talked, the more we realised how different our respective organisations were and this intrigued us.
Sometimes we even reached a point, where we wondered if the two organisations were each other’s opposites. Did the two organisations blow the boundaries of the voluntary sector, and can you still talk about a voluntary sector when organisations are almost just as public or private as they are voluntary? Public, in the way that almost every voluntary organisation receives public funding in order to survive and private, in the way that they act as firms in order to gain legitimacy. This takes us to the problem statement of this master thesis:
An empirical and theoretical analysis of the attraction of volunteers and organisational development to examine if the voluntary sector is heading towards (self)-destruction?
We wish to point at changes in the voluntary sector by drawing on tendencies in two voluntary organisations that we know very well; FDF (Frivilligt Drenge- og Pige Forbund) and URK (Ungdommens Røde Kors). We will return to how we dealt with the personal relation to the organisations later. The analysis is theoretically and empirically grounded in observations from FDF and URK regarding recruitment of volunteers and organisational change. The empirical analysis is divided into three levels because we believe that changes at sector level must develop due to changes at lower levels. First, we look at changes at individual level, then organisational level, and at last at sector level.
Next we account for our definition of two central terms in this paper, then we introduce our voluntary organisations, and finally we offer an outline of the thesis.
1.1 Definitions Voluntary work
We have chosen to concur with the definition of voluntary work according to Centre for Voluntary Social Work (Center for frivilligt socialt arbejde, 2013). Voluntary work is done by volunteers and the work is characterised by being:
- done without physical, judicial or economic force.
- unpaid though this does not exclude compensation for e.g. transportation or phone expenses.
- benefitting to persons outside the family and other than yourself.
- formally organised. This means that normal courtesy or spontaneous help is not considered voluntary work.
- active, which means that membership of an association is not considered voluntary work.
Associations
Associations and organisations are used loosely especially in the historical analysis. An association can be defined as a group of people with a common goal or a common interest, which is organised and managed by democratic rules and procedures (Habermann &
Ibsen, 2005). All associations are considered organisations, as organisation is simply a collective term. In this thesis ‘organisations’ will be used when referring to URK and FDF even though they are also considered associations.
1.2 Introduction to FDF
FDF (Frivilligt Drenge – og Pige Forbund) is a voluntary children and youth organisation founded in 1902 at Frederiksberg by Holger Thornøe and Ludvig Valentiner. The original aim of the organisation was to keep the older boys in Sunday school by providing drill, gymnastics and bands and other skills in addition to Christian teaching. Today, the activities are closely linked to scouts. One of the main differences from scouts is that in FDF only adults have the responsibility for the children opposite scouts organisations where elder children take care of younger children.
FDF today, has maintained the Christian values and the aim in FDF is ”to meet children and young people with the gospel of Jesus Christ”. The most recent member count is 21.400 in 400 local units in Denmark. The amount of members reached it’s highest in the 70’ies with over 40.000 members but has almost constantly since then been dropping (FDF Museet, 2013).
You can begin in FDF as a member as a five or six year old, depending on the local unit.
When you turn 18 you can become a leader in FDF and after you turn 19 it is not possible for you to attend meetings as a ‘child’, then you have to become a leader if you want to keep doing work in the unit. All volunteers in FDF are named leaders, but in the analysis we will refer to the leaders as volunteers, to make it consistent with the volunteers in URK. Every unit has a head of the unit (kredsleder), which often consists of one to three volunteers. A local board is attached to every unit. The activities in FDF are as different as are the volunteers. If you have a unit with volunteers who like outdoor life, the unit has a strong focus on outdoor life. If a unit has volunteers, who are very Christian, it is likely that this is reflected in the activities. As such, there is no one dictating what to do at the weekly meetings, it is completely up to the volunteers’ initiative and the wants and needs of the members.
The central board of FDF is voluntary as well and consists of eleven members. The board members are elected every other year at the national congress. You get elected for a four- year term. They are responsible for the making of the overall strategy for FDF and they hire the general secretary and other staff. Even though you cannot find it officially on the webpage, there are approximately 30 full time employees in FDF. For each area in Denmark a hired person, a union secretary (forbundssekretær), is attached to assist the units. FDF owns a building, Rysensteen, in Copenhagen where the administration is located. The house hosts courses, cultural arrangements and meetings. There is also a smaller office in Aarhus. FDF organise many courses for children and volunteers. The courses are there to strengthen the national identity, the community and enhance the skills of volunteers, but an actual education for volunteers is not available.
Amalie’s role in FDF
In 2006, when I was 21, I was asked to be an instructor at a course in FDF by a friend I met at Silkeborg Højskole, which is founded by FDF. After this, I became a volunteer and have since been doing weekly meetings in a unit, besides that I am an instructor at a national course every easter and autumn and I am engaged in several projects. I have recently become head of a unit and member of a committee for my region. Becoming a member as an adult has been an interesting journey, where I have come to love the organisation but at the same time been able to question many things.
1.3 Introduction to URK
URK (Ungdommens Røde Kors) is Denmark’s largest humanitarian youth organisation.
It was established as a part of the Danish Red Cross in 1923 and became an independent organisation in 1988 (Christensen and Ibsen, 1998). As the rest of the Red Cross Movement it is based on the seven principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntarism, unity, universality.
URK’s aim is to work for and with vulnerable children and young people through remedial, as well as preventive activities. Through the years, the structure and aim of URK has changed significantly. When URK was first established, the organisation was engaged in teaching health and helping its members to become helpful citizens. During the 60s and 70s, the focus slowly changed and became more up to date and during the 90s the organisation became a humanitarian organisation, where the members became the practicing ones rather than the beneficiaries (Christensen and Ibsen, 1998).
Today, URK helps vulnerable children and young people through activities such as homework cafes, holiday camps and clubs. Lately, URK has started working with more exposed group of users such as young homeless people, psychologically vulnerable, student prisoners and children and young people at orphanages and shelters. URK has almost 5000 volunteers and 17000 members (URK, 2013A). The volunteers are engaged in various activities while the members are not necessarily volunteers but donors who support the organisation with monthly or yearly contributions.
URK is organised around a national board, 25 activity-based steering groups such as holiday camp or homework cafes, 80 local steering groups responsible for more than 250 local activities in the entire country and a secretariat. The national board is responsible for the organisational and directional leadership of the organisation. The activity-based steering groups are designed to support and lead activities and oversee the hands-on work done by the volunteers in the local steering groups. These different groups are all supported by the secretariat, which provide support to the volunteer-based activities.
Furthermore the secretariat is also responsible for areas such as strategy, fundraising, communication, advocacy and financial control. URK has a secretariat in Copenhagen,
Aarhus and Odense and they consist of 32 full time employees, 12 full time trainees and 10 student workers. In addition, they have a professional phone-team with approximately 15 part time employees trying to generate new members (URK, 2013 B).
URK is working from Strategy 2015, which was adopted by the general assembly in 2010. Strategy 2015 consists of six focus areas, which URK is working on in the coming years. The focus areas are: framework for volunteering, targeted development efforts, social innovation, communication, advocacy, and fundraising. Based on Strategy 2015 the national board and the activity-based steering groups develop an annual action plan in order to implement the strategy. In 2012, the organisation had a turnover of almost 40 million Kr. and funds from Red Cross and DUF accounted for 16,5 % of the total turnover.
The remaining resources come from public pools and private funds (URK, 2013 C).
Vibeke’s role in URK
In 2007, I moved to Copenhagen to study and began volunteering in URK. I became a volunteer at café Zusammen, which is a non-profit café at Frederiksberg. Later, I became involved with the local HR group in Copenhagen and in 2010, I was elected for the national board. My work in URK is characterised by organisational work and as I am beginning to miss a closer contact with the users, I am volunteering at a holiday camp next year and queuing to become a volunteer at a project for young homeless people. Being a volunteer in URK has meant a lot to me and it has shaped my personality and my life in so many ways.
1.4 Outline of thesis
Having made the necessary introductions we offer an outline of this master thesis:
Figure 1: Thesis outline
Method
Theory
Analysis
Recommendations
Conclusion
Discussion
• Theory of science
• Delimitations
• Empirical data
• Trustworthiness of qualitative data
• Individual level:
Habermann: Motives for volunteering
• Organisational level:
Bourdieu: Theory of practice
Christensen: The relational perspective
• Sector level:
Friedland & Alford: Institutional logics Formation
• Historical analysis of the voluntary sector
• Analysis at individual level Motives for volunteering
• Analysis at organisational level Volunteers in FDF and URK Socialisation of volunteers Exchange of values
• Analysis at sector level
Institutional logics in FDF and URK Consequence of changing logics
• Discussion of organisational challenges and qualities
• Recommendations for FDF
• Recommendations for URK
• Main findings
• The Volunteer Charter 2013
• Comparing the charters from 2001 and 2013
• Questioning of the origin of the charter
• Alternative approach
2. Methodology
Methodology has the purpose of explaining and accounting for the choices that have been made in this thesis and which considerations we have had when making those choices.
Generally seen, the thesis is characterised by a foundation in the empirical material. We are fully aware that this choice must be at the expense of methodological considerations.
We do however wish to account for the theory of science, delimitations of the thesis and the construction of empirical data as well as thetrustworthiness of it. The choice of theory is significant for the empirical material as theory shapes empirics. Therefore we will argue for the choice of theory and sum up on the main criticisms. All related to theory, will be accounted for in the next chapter.
2.1 Theory of science
The overall scientific approach of this thesis is social constructivism. The world is not perceived as an objective reality. Reality is different depending on how it is constructed in our acknowledgement of it. Society is constructed through historical and social processes and that therefore also entails the possibility of alteration. Human action and interaction create social phenomenon. When defining a term, language must be used for the realisation of it. This gives the language a central position in the creations of the social world (Fuglsang, 2004). There are many schools within social constructivism that we will leave out of the thesis, how theory of science affects the foundation for the chosen theory will be dealt with in the theory section.
2.2 Delimitations
We are aware that making a choice means at the same time disregarding other choices.
We have limited our study to only look at two organisations; FDF and URK, which can be categorised as social voluntary organisations. They are not representative of the entire voluntary sector, which also contains organisations within areas of elderly, sport, art etc.
However, the opportunity to make an in depth analysis of tendencies in two comparable organisations was chosen rather than trying to cover the entire sector. Besides only volunteers who have stayed in the voluntary organisation have been interviewed.
Volunteers who had left the organisation in frustration or in discontent would have helped clarifying obstacles of volunteering and thereby have contributed to the greater picture of the organisation.
2.3 Comparison of the two organisations
We would like to argue for why we find the two organisations, FDF and URK, comparable.
They are both social voluntary children and youth organisations and belong under the umbrella organisation DUF(Danish Youth Association). Further they are both member based; URK has 17.000 members, many of those are support members. About 5000 are volunteers and the estimated number of users is 12.000 (URK only has a members database, volunteers and users do not have to be members and do not appear in any exact database).
FDF has 21.400 members; of these 7500 volunteers and the rest are children and youth members. In this way, URK and FDF are regarded comparable in size. The structures of the organisations are similar, since the primary voluntary engagement happens in local areas supported by an administration and a voluntary national board.
Where they differ is in organisational age and volunteer profile. FDF has existed for 111 years and the average volunteer has a short or medium long further education. Within FDF there is a slight overweighting towards male adult members. Conversely, URK has existed independently for just 25 years. The average volunteer is a woman studying a long in further education.
2.4 Empirical data
2.4.1 Interviews as a research tool
Qualitative research is appropriate when working under a social constructivist approach because it considers that truth is not objective and cannot disclose any pure knowledge only how the world is perceived through the individual. That means that we as researchers are creating data and not gathering data.
The problem statement required us to create new empirical data. Since we wanted to re- examine the current knowledge about volunteers and voluntary organisations, we needed specific empirical data from each of the organisations. The empirical data is the foundation of our thesis. We have used semi-structured interviews according to Kvale (1996) when interviewing the volunteers in FDF and URK. Since we wanted to understand our respondents’ behaviour and motives, the qualitative interview is best suited (Andersen, 2013) but is still informal and conversational. We wanted a thorough understanding of the volunteers and the organisations behind and quantitative research could not provide us with that.
The subject matter of the interview is prepared and therefore somewhat systematic but still open to other directions developing during the interview. We have interviewed a total of 16 people, eight from each organisation consisting of six volunteers and two from the management of the organisation. Due to the significant quantity of data, the interviews had to be conducted somewhat alike to be comparable. The amount of interviews, we considered enough for reflecting tendencies of meanings but a larger amount is of course needed to make general conclusions. We created an interview guide to make sure that some consistency was present during the interviews.
The interviews are conducted in Danish, recorded and transcribed afterwards to ensure our full attention during the interview. Afterwards we could analyse the interview in details. We found that the respondents would be able to express themselves better when interviewed in Danish and to some an English interview would most likely be an obstacle for agreeing to be interviewed. The quotes used in this thesis are translated and made reader-friendly. The transcriptions can be found in the seperate appendix booklet and audio recordings can be provided on request.
Interview guide
Writing our interview guide, we discussed how we could actually conduct these interviews without forcing or altering the statements of our respondents. When trying to recall situations and experiences from the past, you interpret the memories to a certain extent.
We were aware that we would not avoid some kind of personal justification when it comes to interviewees sharing memories. We wanted to imply the feeling that they were just telling us their story rather than answering questions and at least make sure that the questions asked did not deliberately influence their answers. In this way the first part of the interview reflects the narrative interview (Andersen 2013). We told our respondents beforehand that we wanted to hear how they became active in their organisation with the hope that it would jump-start the memories before the actual interview. We knew from own experience that the more you think and talk about the first encounter with the organisation, the more likely it is that you remember the details. To make the respondents as relaxed and comfortable as possible, we met them in familiar locations and interviewed them face-to-face.
2.4.2 Selection criteria
Our main concerns on how to select volunteers for the interviews were, how we could secure that they were still able to remember their story with as little ‘noise’ as possible and still had some knowledge of the organisation they were volunteered in. We decided
that it had to be less than ten years since they began volunteering, most of them though entered five to six years ago. It was important to us that the volunteers could give a present picture of the organisations but still had to be able to remember how it was, when they became volunteers.
Selecting respondents in FDF
Selecting from the above criteria is difficult in FDF as the majority of volunteers in FDF become members as children. Their memories from when they actually became a volunteer in FDF, can thus be difficult to distinguish from the general experiences in FDF.
To compensate for that we decided to find a rare type of volunteer in FDF; the ones who enter as adults. Prospectively, we will refer to them as external volunteers. Since this type of volunteer is not representative of FDF in general, we decided to interview two volunteers who had been members as children but still became volunteers less than 10 years ago. We will refer to them as internal volunteers. We focused on making as valid a selection of respondents as possible, choosing to interview six volunteers from different local units.
Finding volunteers is easy enough with the newly updated member database, but the database cannot extract members who became volunteers as adults. The only possibility of locating them other than using our personal network. In the world of social media, we simply posted a shout out for help on Facebook, and the help came immediately.
We originally wanted the respondents to be as differentiated as possible regarding sex, age, and area. However we soon discovered that this was not possible as all the external volunteers in FDF split into two categories; one category of men, who had no direct reason to become members and another category of women, who had become members as adults due to the fact that their own children were in FDF. The mothers had been slowly involved in FDF, first providing assistance, later expanding this role and finally becoming volunteers (leaders). We believed they had a certain knowledge of FDF before they became volunteers and we therefore did not find them suitable as respondents, as we wanted to know about their first encounter as new volunteers.
We thought it was an interesting finding that the respondents, who entered as adults without their children being the reason, were all men and that no men had entered into FDF due to their children. If this is a general tendency, it is of course not possible for us to say, but it may well be that we see a higher tendency of males becoming volunteers in FDF due to the activities (such as outdoor life) being more appealing to males than females.
This is supported by the fact that in average voluntary organisations, the female amount of
volunteers is higher than male, (Habermann, 2001) but in FDF there is a slight overweight of males in the organisation (e-mail, 18 September, 2013 with FDF database information).
The respondents are from six different local units: FDF Måløv, FDF Skovlunde, FDF Tårnby, FDF Utterslev, FDF Virum and FDF Vanløse. The volunteers are depersonalised in the presentation. The management is not since they are considered publicly known people.
Finding respondents in URK
In order to find a representative segment of the volunteers in URK, we primarily focused on finding volunteers with varying seniority. Among the chosen respondents there is an overweight of volunteers who have been engaged at organisational level, which may affect our findings. However, in URK there is a higher amount of volunteers at organisational level compared to other organisations according to the volunteer study by DUF (2007).
The majority of our respondents are females but as there is an overweight of female volunteers in URK, the respondents reflect this tendency. In URK we experienced some of same limitations as with FDF because there is no exact voluntary database, which meant that choosing the five respondents was also dependent of our personal network.
Generally, the empirical choices taken may have skewed our results, however we do believe the empirical data is valid taking our reasoning into consideration.
2.4.3 Influencing the field
When using qualitative methods, research will always risk being biased due to methods containing a certain amount of interpretation (Andersen, 2013). A researcher will always affect the field to some extent but as we have an in-depth knowledge of the two organisations it is impossible for us not discard the fact that we are a part of the field.
The knowledge of our respective organisations makes us capable of insights that can be difficult to observe if you do not know the organisations. The same insider knowledge can also be weakening since it originates in a familiarity that is also emotional to us, which can question our critical sense. However, we believe that since we represent one organisation each, the other worked as a critical opponent.
When interviewing the respondents, we attempted to phrase the questions as openly and as neutrally as possible. We feared that the URK interviewees might feel they were being interrogated as Vibeke is on the National Board; This could have made the respondents withhold certain information or made them provide answers that they though would please her, therefore, before each interview, we made sure the respondent knew we were
not looking for certain answers and that there were no right or wrong replies. Generally, we fear that respondents were being too cooperative and therefore emphasised certain areas more than they normally would have, because they felt that we were interested in those areas.
2.4.4 Trustworthiness of qualitative data
When you are working under a constructivist approach, you have to relate to the qualitative data differently than if you were working under a positivist approach. Guba and Lincoln (1989) argue that you cannot use the traditional evaluation methods of validity and reliability and therefore use four other terms to estimate the quality of the data in constructivist studies.
Credibility covers whether the constructed reality of respondents, and the reconstructions attributed to them, are isomorphic (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). Member checks are according to Guba and Lincoln the most important technique, where the respondents affirm or reaffirm the data. We offered the respondents to read through the transcriptions, but only few of them found it necessary.
Transferability refers to the degree of similarity between sending and receiving contexts and whether data can be generalised and transferred to other settings (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). We believe that our interviews describe the cultures within FDF and URK thoroughly and can be categorised as thick descriptions. The interviews are thus transferable and could be applied in other contexts.
Dependability says something about whether the results are consistent, and hypothetically, if the results could be observed twice (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). Dependability could have been improved if a researcher, not involved in the thesis, had examined the consistency of our results and conclusions. We believe that our supervisor has partly fulfilled this role, as we have discussed methods of gathering data and findings with him.
Confirmability refers to whether the results could have been confirmed by others (Guba &
Lincoln, 1989). As we are volunteering in the same organisations that we research, naturally our personal relation influences the perspective of this study. However we believe that others could have reached the same findings, but may have needed elaborate explanations from the respondents on internal aspects and knowledge about the organisations.
2.4.5 Presentation of respondents Management in FDF
Respondent 1: Jonas Kolby Kristiansen, Chairman of the national board, 33 years old, has been a member of FDF since birth. Past: volunteer in a local unit, head of a unit, has latest represented FDF in DUF (Danish Youth Association) and was, in November 2012, elected chairman of the national board, which is also a voluntary position. He works as an engineer at a larger Danish corporation.
Respondent 2: Ulrich Piltoft, Secretary General, 57 years old, member of FDF since he was 7 years old. Past: he has been a volunteer, head of a local unit, he has been employed by FDF for 16 years; the last 10 as Secretary General, a role he has now retired from. (From 1 August 2012 the new secretary general is Morten Skrubbeltrang.)
Volunteers in FDF
Respondent 3: 29 years old male, member of FDF since 2009. Volunteer in a unit. Studies at a middle long further education.
Respondent 4: 27 years old female, member of FDF since 1993, Volunteer in a local unit, part of leading the unit (kredsleder) and has done work for FDF at national level (courses and projects). Studies at a long further education.
Respondent 5: 25 year old male, member of FDF since 2006. Volunteer in a local unit.
Former military training, now temporarily working before returning to the military.
Respondent 6: 22 years old male, member of FDF since 2009, volunteer in a unit. Studies at a long further education.
Respondent 7: 24 years old male, member of FDF since 2012, volunteer in a unit. Studies HF (Higher Preparatory Examination Course).
Respondent 8: 26 years old female, member of FDF since 1992, volunteer in a unit and part of leading the unit (kredsleder). Is doing FDF work on national level (courses) and studies a long further education.
Volunteers in URK
Respondent 9: 28 years old female, member from 2004 to 2012. Has been an activity volunteer and later an organisational volunteer. Studied at a long further education and is now working.
Respondent 10: 24 years old female, member of URK since 2010, has primarily been an activity volunteer. Studies at a long further education.
Respondent 11: 27 years old female, member of URK since 2008. Is an organisational volunteer. Studies at a long further education.
Respondent 12: 30 years old female, member of URK since 2008. Is an organisational volunteer. Studied at a long further education and is now working.
Respondent 13: 35 years old female, member of URK since 2003, has been an activity volunteer and is now an organisational volunteer. Has been studying at a long further education and is now working.
Respondent 14: 21 years old male, member of URK since 2011, activity volunteer. Studies at a long further education.
Management in URK
Respondent 15: Anders Folmer Buhelt, executive director. Began working for URK October 1. 2012. Has a master in law and has earlier on worked for Danish Institute for Human Rights.
Respondent 16: Frederik Giese, organisational vice chairman, 28 years old, has been in URK since 2004. He has been in several projects including four years as an activity volunteer and as chairman of an international committee. Since 2008 he has been on the national board. Studies at RUC (Roskilde University Centre).
3. Theory applied
Choosing theories for a thesis is an hermeneutical process; an interplay between empirical data and theory. Our journey started in an empirical interest in our two voluntary organisations. We came to reflect on changes in the voluntary sector while also noticing a degree of coincidence involved in the motives for volunteering. From there on we made a somewhat arbitrary choice of looking at logics in our society. We wondered if the voluntary sector had become dominated by logics that traditionally belonged to the private and public sector. If so, what caused this change? It became obvious that we needed to connect the coincidental motives for volunteering with the changes in the voluntary sector. That is where we discovered that when random volunteers are socialised in organisations it entails an exchange of values. The organisation and the volunteer influence each other and as a result the voluntary organisations change which leads to a change in the entire voluntary sector. The choices of theory taken are thus developed as a result of assumptions and insufficiencies in combination with our empirical data.
3.1 Choice of theory
In the following section, we would like to reason for our choice of theory. A choice of theory means at the same time discarding other theories. A choice of theory means applying a certain perspective at your observations because you cannot account for everything at the same time. The explanations for the theories applied, will follow the general structure of our thesis – hopefully this will give a better overview.
Analysis at individual level
In the analysis of the volunteers, we wish to examine why people enter voluntary organisations. The main body of literature employs a rational choice theory to explain volunteering, as does Ulla Habermann in her surveys of Nordic voluntary organisations and volunteers. Her findings are therefore relevant to compare with our empirical findings.
Bringing in Ulla Habermann, we wish to challenge her work and offer a new understanding of volunteers’ motives for voluntary work.
Analysis at organisational level
We do not think that we can explain voluntary organising by means of the motives of the their members. Rather than understanding members employing rational choice theory, we propose a social constructivist approach to understand why members join and become attached to voluntary organisations. To analyse how changes in the organisations happen can be illustrated by using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice, which deals with
how the volunteer is socialised and navigates in the organisation. An important reason for choosing Bourdieu is the empirical orientation in his work.
To supplement Bourdieu, we use Søren Christensen’s relational perspective to help unfold how organisations and volunteers influence each other’s values in a continuous process.
This supports our assumption that volunteers can contribute to organisational change and helps us understand how a change at individual level entails a change at other levels.
Analysis at sector level
The institutional perspective offers a certain way of considering our society. The institutional logics of Friedland and Alford help by offering a frame for understanding changes in the voluntary sector as part of a societal context. The logics bring a dynamic understanding of how society’s institutional logics affect the organisations’ logics and thereby actions. Our perception of voluntary organisations today is that they work under other logics than those that are usually assigned to voluntary organisations. In that way, they operate differently than assumed. This development can be illustrated by using the logics since the institutional logics are constantly developing within and between organisations and sectors.
We think that formation (dannelse) is an important feature in modern democratic societies and that voluntary organisations play an important role in the formation of citizens.
The perversion of the voluntary sector, due to changing logics, may thus impinge the development of society.
Presentation of theory
3.1 Ulla Habermann’s motives for volunteering
Ulla Habermann is a doctor of philosophy and has a background in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Centre for Voluntary Social Work. Further she has contributed to studies of the voluntary sector. She is not presenting an actual theory but empirical findings that results in general assumptions of volunteers and definitions of terms for understanding motives.
3.1.1 Research method
Habermann’s (2001 and 2007) main focus is to investigate; who volunteers and what motivates them? Her study is based on a Nordic version of “Volunteers Functions Inventory” developed by Clary, Schneider and Ridge from 1992 and consists of 2548 volunteer respondents and an analysis of 288 letters from volunteers engaged in social
voluntary work. The questionnaire consists of statements and claims concerning different motives for volunteering, which the respondents ranked on a scale from 1 to 7.
3.1.2 Motives
Motives should be understood as a conscious choice and the satisfaction of needs, which is verbally expressed.
The satisfaction of needs refers to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Motives to perform paid labour are similar to the motives to perform unpaid labour. However, the need to survive physically and economically dominates motives behind paid labour and the need to be of use, gain identity and being a part of a social community dominates motives for unpaid labour.
Motives are seen as deliberate choices which are expressed verbally and as Anthony Giddens states: ”…agents are normally able, if asked, to provide discursive interpretations of the nature of, and the reason for, the behaviour in which they engage” (Habermann, 2007:50). Thus the very definition of voluntary work is presupposed by a free choice, which is at the same time conscious and deliberate (Habermann, 2007).
Motives express the questions asked by oneself or others as an explanation or justification of social situations or actions. Motives, in this connection are not underlying or unconscious but appear as deliberate answers of a question. Depending on the character of the question and the context; “what is reason for one man is rationalisation for another”
(Habermann, 2007:52). Hence motives are strongly connected to a social and historical context. This implies that a person can volunteer due to one motive that can later be altered or supplemented by other motives. That does not mean that the altered motives are better or worse, but that the insight of the person has changed (Habermann, 2007).
Habermann thus defines motivation as ”(…) the volunteers’ subjective interpretations of their own situation and their subsequent statements and actions. Motives are words, i.e.
they are subjective and conscious, and it is this reflexive and verbally expressed side of the volunteers’ behaviour and interpretations of their own choice, which should be the subject of analysis” (Habermann, 2007:54).
3.1.3 Five-motives-dimension
Until recently, there have not been many attempts to understand, divide or categorise motives behind voluntary work in Denmark (Habermann, 2007). The studies conducted
over the years have been English and American and Merete Watt Boolsen performed the first major Danish study in 1988. She distinguishes between charity and solidarity. She found that charity is closely connected with humanity.
Based on previous research, Habermann finds a high degree of consensus within the field. She summarises that volunteers have many different motives for volunteering.
Volunteering thus constitutes a motive-mix, which concerns intentions such as solidarity, altruism, dedication, events in personal life and network of social relations. Secondly, she points towards the existence of a motives-hierarchy, as all motives are not equally important. You ascribe motives different importance dependent on factors such as age, gender and status in the organisation. Thirdly, the motive-context is essential as motivation differs depending on the type of organisation. Habermann’s study of motives for voluntary work is based on the five-motives-dimension, which are: learning, values, identity, social expectations and career (Habermann, 2001). They will be elaborated below.
1. Values
According to Habermann, (2001) values are the single most important motivator for engaging in voluntary work. The value dimension should be understood as the ideological background from which the voluntary organisation is working. Values also represent the altruistic and idealistic motives for volunteering. The voluntary engagement is purely aimed at helping others and is not based on the needs of the volunteer.
2. Learning
The learning concerns the individual’s ability to relate to other life styles and to meet and connect with new people. Tolerance and self-development is believed to be crucial in this dimension as well as learning about the cause the individual is volunteering for. Thus learning is not seen as education as such, but instead as development of opinions and oneself. Habermann’s findings (2001) reveal that the learning dimension becomes less important with age and is most important among individuals below the age of 20. Overall learning is viewed as the second most important motivator for engaging in voluntary work.
3. Identity
Identity refers to the fact that it is an essential part of a person’s life to have a picture of him or herself as a useful, active and recognised person. Volunteering can help the individual to create such an image and provide meaning, identity and self-esteem as well as the feeling of being useful and a part of a society. According to Habermann, (2001)
identity as a motivator increases with age and its importance is lowest among individuals under the age of 20. Overall identity is rated third most important motive for volunteering.
4. Social expectations
The dimension of social expectations as motivator concerns to which extent the individual is subject to expectations or norms from their surroundings. When providing a voluntary effort it is of importance whether the individual has a feeling of being pressured or gently pushed by family, friends or organisations, or if the individual is engaging in voluntary work based on a feeling of a free and independent choice.
Social expectations are rated as the second lowest motive for engaging in voluntary work.
Habermann (2007) points towards a contradiction in her finding as earlier studies (Anker and Koch Nielsen, 1995; Gaskin and Smith, 1995) highlight encouragement and inquiries from the individual’s surroundings as a significant motivator for volunteering. Habermann explains her findings by stating that the volunteers are not aware of the significance of social expectations.
5. Career
Career as a motive for volunteering is linked to whether volunteering can provide the individual with useful experience, which can be used in the labour market. Further this dimension addresses whether the voluntary activities can serve as job training for students or provide an advantage, when applying for a paid job. According to Habermann’s findings the career dimension is the lowest motivator for performing voluntary work.
Summing up
Habermann describes motivation as a deliberate choice and satisfaction of needs, which is verbally expressed interpretations of motives. From the five motives dimension, it is clear that the motive to which volunteers attribute the highest importance is values. At the opposite end of the scale is career and social expectation.
3.2 Bourdieu’s theory of practice
The French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu (1931-2002) was one of the 20th century’s most important researchers in social science. His work centred around terms such as habitus, fields and capitals, which constituted his theory of practice.
His studies were often rooted in thorough empirical research in combination with theory, he was quoted for saying that: ”Theory without empirical research is empty, empirical research
without theory is blind” (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006:212). His personal life has been said to be the foundation of his research e.g. his meeting as an outsider with the French academic milieu and his stay in Algeria triggered his interest for social differences and this resulted in the development of his theory of practice (Wilken, 2011). He has not created an actual theory, but rather a conceptual framework for understanding aspects of society.
His terms are to be understood relationally, which means that neither habitus, field, nor capital is more important than the others. Nothing contains value in itself, only in relation to the surroundings. In the same way of thinking, the subject and the object must be understood in relation. Philosophy and social science require a fundamental contradiction between objectivism and subjectivism. Where you are either a product of certain structures or you create certain structures. Bourdieu argues that you cannot understand the agent without taking both objectivism and subjectivism into consideration because the agent’s actions are both conditioned by the understanding of the structures and limited by the objective structures and these actions and understandings are also generating the objective structures. Objectivism and subjectivism are thus complementary (Wilken, 2011).
In the following, we will explain selected terms and concepts of Bourdieu’s conceptual framework in context to their relevance for our analysis.
3.2.1 Socialisation
Socialisation is the process where social structures are transferred and the individual appropriates social and cultural norms as well as knowledge of how to behave in a social context (Jerlang, 1996). Socialisation as a term connects habitus, capital and field since socialisation happens when an individual (and the individual’s habitus) enters a certain field and becomes shaped by the field. In order to become socialised it is also important that the individual is building capital. Socialisation thus becomes creating of habitus.
Bourdieu argues that due to a profound socialisation you become predisposed for acting in certain ways, which is not structured in a way that you can call it a ritual act, but at the same time is not as free and conscious that you can call it a determined act (Prieur &
Sestoft, 2006).
3.2.2 Habitus
Habitus are acquired dispositions for acting in a certain way. They are mostly unconscious, bodily and cognitive structures that underlie people’s actions, opinions and the choices they make. The dispositions are not necessarily applied but can be (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006).
Habitus is a system of dispositions, ways of acting, reacting, thinking and registering, a pattern for the perception of the world (Bourdieu, 1990). Habitus defines a socialised body, a structured body that has ascribed the structures in the world that is present.
Therefore, habitus is difficult to change, but is not unalterable. Habitus is constantly developing, mostly unconsciously, and when conditions of life change, the new conditions are internalised on the basis of the old.
A known example is, how habitus developed at home, is the foundation for how school and the communicated knowledge in school is perceived and then how the development in habitus affected by school set the frame onwards for how you perceive the world. It is therefore likely that the people you relate to and the choices of education, jobs and friends you take are intuitive and according to your habitus (Jerlang, 1996). Not because rules are incorporated and reproduced but because it is a generative principle for acting that makes you predisposed for acting in certain ways (Prieur &Sestoft, 2006). The shaping of habitus will be in constant development due to external influences, but never develop radically because the new will be met with the dispositions you carry on from earlier, Bourdieu (1990) calls this the internalisation of externalities. The knowledge of the world becomes internalised in the individuals and shapes their perception of reality. Subsequently, the reality is expressed in actions and choices hence the externalisation of internalities. (Prieur og Sestoft, 2006). This means that all social experiences, self-caused or inflicted, conscious or unconscious, linguistic or bodily that individuals are exposed to, are imbedded and stored in our bodies and become habitus (Jerlang, 1996). Bourdieu distances himself from Platon’s view on the dualism between body and soul. Bourdieu later describes how habitus can be divided as he had experienced with his own background from the country, which became in opposition to the habitus he developed in the academic field and this contradiction created a divided habitus; he was able to both participate in the intellectual
‘game’ on a high level, but also rebelled against the ‘rules’ of the game (Wilken, 2011).
3.2.3 Fields
Bourdieu speaks of the concept of fields, which is a number of relatively autonomous systems or social spaces, each with their specific logics, power relations and requirements.
According to Bourdieu, society cannot be considered as an entity, but as consisting of a number of smaller social microcosms, which exist more or less independently of other fields’ logic. The fields are though interrelated. A field contains several positions which is the dynamic in the field, since a field is defined by conflicts, competitions or struggles to define the fields’ specific practise whether it is law, literature, sport and so on. Agreeing
that the field’s practice is so important that it is worth disagreeing on, is what Bourdieu calls illusio (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006). A field can be compared to game. The players are not exposed to explicit rules, but are subject to certain norms and regularities (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1996). The fields are only relatively autonomous because mostly they are in dependence with social forms of power, called a power field. Fields of math or physics is defined as fields with maximum autonomy but fields with lower degree of autonomy is for instance the literary field where an economic logic is dominant because the literary field is dependent on selling books. The heteronomy (economy) and autonomy (good literature) becomes the contradiction in the field; two poles in the field (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006).
Each field is attempting to sustain its position by setting up various admission criteria. To enter or to become a part of the field an individual must possess capital relevant to the field (Jerlang, 1996). Individuals who are already in the field will attempt to legitimise and consolidate their position and therefore the field contains negotiated positions as well as defended positions. The on going disputes between individuals entering the field and individuals already in the field provide the field with an immanent dynamic, which can change the logic or direction of a field (Jerlang, 1996).
3.2.4 Capital
Capital is a term Bourdieu has expanded on with time. Usually, capital is related to economic frames, but Bourdieu tried to exemplify how the previous use of the term has been very narrow. By using capital in theory it can help the understanding of historic aspects in sociology since you are structured by history and heritage. Individuals have different preconditions dependent on the social- and family history they are born into and when choices show regularity it is very much due to history. Capital, as an analytical tool, can capture this (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006).
Capital refers to the resources the individual has. Capital is used to influence the field that the individuals fight to control and access (Wilken, 2011). The relative value of capital depends on the field where it is brought into play. According to Jerlang “The volume of social capital that the individual develops depends on its social path and habitus” (1996:381). For the capital not to lose its value it must be unique for its field and people within the field will typically defend the capital from people outside the field otherwise they will lose their power. In one field, one type of knowledge may be important, while it is not important in another field. However, there may exist many positions of a specific capital within each field, which can be described as the individuals understanding of capital (Jerlang, 1996).
If you know the habitus of people and know which capitals they have and which fields
they try to act in, then you can understand and explain what they do and why they do it (Wilken, 2011).
Bourdieu describes four types of capital; the economic, the social, the cultural and the symbolic capital.
Economic capital is money or material goods that the individual or group possesses.
Cultural capital includes the formation, education and language skills that are essential for the individual to succeed in the field or in society. This capital is the most elaborate of the capitals. Cultural capital is found in three forms: incorporated (bodily), objectified and institutionalised (Wilken, 2011). In the incorporated form cultural capital is mental and bodily dispositions; how you speak, dress and move, your knowledge, taste and preferences (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006). It becomes a part of habitus and is gained through socialisation and embedded as dispositions in habitus. The more dominant the cultural capital is and the more embedded from socialisation in the family the more you will be capable of accumulating cultural capital elsewhere (Wilken, 2011). Incorporated cultural capital requires economic resources (spare time and money to travel, read books or take an education) but cannot be bought directly, that is what makes it valuable (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006). Cultural capital can also be in objectified form such as paintings, instruments, books or buildings. You can access this capital through economic capital and then it will be transformed into symbolic capital. Cultural capital in institutionalised form is academic titles, certificates, honoraries and awards (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006).
Social capital is the existing and potential resources that are available to the individual or group by investing in networks and connections. In the same way as you can accumulate economic or cultural capital, you can accumulate social capital by investing in relations.
Symbolic capital however, is a more hidden or disguised form of capital as it appears as a special form of capital. What creates this symbolic capital is that the individuals’ perceptions attach symbolic capital to the fundamental capital. Therefore, the fields develop their own cultural and symbolic perception through reproducing their own power and existence, while at the same time reproducing the field and the participants’ habitus (Jerlang, 1996).
Symbolic power is sometimes field specific and is achieved by actions in the field (Prieur
& Sestoft, 2006).
There are many different forms of capital other than the ones mentioned e.g. religious, academic, military etc. The capital structure or the combination of capital is the foundation for the strategy the agent explores. Some choices will be more apparent due to the capital
structure and some will be more likely to be realised and striven for. Usually the agents will also appreciate the type of capital they have inherited. Capital can be transformed into other forms of capital. Institutional cultural capital such as an education can be transformed into economic capital if you get a job due to your education, then the economic capital can be transformed into cultural capital again if you spend the money investing in art or literature, which then again can be transformed into symbolic capital if the you buy a famous art piece (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006).
3.2.5 Doxa
According to Bourdieu, doxa describes the specific rules for what is right and wrong in a particular field. The rules within a field are constantly produced and reproduced, but recognised by the field’s individuals as if it was ‘common knowledge’. The rules are kept through recruitment, rituals, education or social relations to the field and newcomers are socialised and adjusted to doxa. All these taken for granted perceptions on the nature of the field works at the same time as symbolic instruments of power. New comers are socialised unconsciously to accept a field of perceptions and assumptions and thereby maintaining the capital that the other individuals already possess. Doxa is not being explained or exemplified but everyone adheres to it. By studying the field over time, changes in doxa become visible. Over time a change in the individual can also cause a change in doxa. Whether an individual fits into a field’s doxa depends on the individual’s capital structure (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006).
3.2.6 Symbolic violence and power
You can exercise symbolic power if you have symbolic capital. Bourdieu uses the term symbolic violence when describing doxa but also in the battles existing in the field between individuals and positions in the field. Through capitals, individuals are able to influence the field and thus gain power (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1996). Symbolic violence is of course not physical, but is exercised with the silent acceptance of being dominated and dominating without being conscious about it, it is just the un-reflected acceptance of how things are.
Certain reactions are automatically released without thinking of it and these reactions show that we recognise and acknowledge the power that faces us. Symbolic violence is incorporated and every time you face inferiority the body will show that by becoming nervous and blushing, stuttering or however we react (Prieur & Sestoft, 2006). Bourdieu does not see a contraposition between force and voluntarism, the dominance occurs in a game between the individuals without accepting it consciously. The symbolic violence is created through communication between individuals whenever they are engaging in
any linguistic interaction they are opening up for the possibility of exercising symbolic violence (Bourdieu & Wacquant 1996).
Summing up on Bourdieu
Bourdieu’s theoretical framework explains how individuals become socialised in fields on the basis of habitus and capital structure. Habitus is obtained through experiences and is crucial for how we act in certain situations. The field consist of values and norms, which the individual acts from and doxa describes the rules within the field. Further, individuals struggle to gain power and define the field. Power is obtained through the compositions of capital structure.
3.3 Søren Christensen’s relational perspective
In Christensen’s dissertation lecture from 1998, he distinguishes between two different positions within institutional organisational analysis; the norm-based and the relation- based. They both have a social constructivist approach, however they have two very different views on values.
In the norm-based approach the actor is created through socialisation and the actors’
values therefore become a product of the socialisation process. Consequently values can be considered as exogenous variables and are thus not considered a part of the analysis:
the key to understanding the interactions between actors is the norms. Values are seen as
“billiard balls;” in the interaction the actors do not take shape from each other they only collide (Christensen, 1998).
In the relation-based perspective it is the transactions between actors, which are of primary interest. Values are constructed in a transaction process where the actors’ values are changed as a consequence of their experiences in the relationship. Thus, values can be seen as endogenous variables that affect the individual as well as become affected by the individual. From this position; values can be understood as ‘modelling wax’ (krammebolde) which take shape after every transaction (Christensen, 1998). Consequently, values become important only when actors in a relationship take their own perception of values into account (or as Bourdieu (1997) calls it, their habitus).
3.4 Friedland and Alford’s institutional logics
We would like to account for Friedland and Alford’s theory on institutional logics, but first we find it necessary to relate it to the institutional perspective.
3.4.1 The Institutional Perspective
Institutionalism arose as a response to rational choice theory. It was necessary to look at organisational behaviour in the wider social and cultural environment that the organisations are rooted in.
Efficiency and rationality was insufficient when explaining the organisations’ actions since legitimacy had to be considered as well. Organisations have to adapt to institutionalised expectations from their surroundings.
The approach in this thesis is new institutionalism. It differs from the old institutionalism by not viewing collective action as a sum of individuals’ actions. Institutions are far too complex. Further, institutions shape actions and organisational change is typically a result of inter-organisational interaction. Institutionalisation is fundamentally a cognitive process where normative obligations enter into social life primarily as taken for granted script, rules and classifications; facts that actors must take into account (Powell &
DiMaggio, 1991).
One of the directions, within new institutionalism, is the sociological institutionalism, which is a way of looking at social behaviour consisting of structures. Institutions provide stability and meaning to social behaviour but within the institutional theory there are significant differences in the emphasis on the cognitive, normative and regulative structures, which are carried by cultures, structures and routines (Scott & Christensen, 1995). In the following, we will briefly present the differences:
Institutions as regulatory systems
The primary institutional control mechanism is coercion. Rules and laws are incorporated in a regulatory machinery to avoid conflicts. The actors obey the rules out of self-interest to avoid the sanctions. The actors are therefore said to pursue interests rationally. The organisational rules or laws are often enforced by one or more powerful actors who impose or enforce rules according to their own benefit.
Institutions as normative systems
The institutional mechanism is normativity. That reflects that there is a collective conception of human nature, that social patterns are attributed power. Behaviour is guided
