Formel frivillighed og uformel hjælp: To forskellige former for civilt engagement?

Formal volunteering and informal help are both examples of civic engagement. They are concepts, which have received increasing attention in recent years. The aim of this article is to analyze how social resources and networks affect the propensity to undertake formal volunteering and informal help. The data is from a survey of volunteering in Denmark from 2012. An important result of the empirical analysis is that there is little difference between the people who are engaged in formal volunteer work or informal help, but there is a difference between them and those people who are not active. Socialization, however, plays a significant role. People, who grew up with volunteering as a family tradition, are more likely to engage in formal volunteering. In contrast, a tradition of volunteering does not have significant impact on whether you informally help others. Rather, it appears that the strength of the close social networks ("bonding social capital") is crucial for informal helping. People engaged in both types of civic engagement differ remarkably from the group that is not active in any type of volunteering. People engaged in both types of civic engagement possess more social resources and stronger social networks. They have more trust in other people and they spend much time volunteering. That is, this group has much "social capital".