From community based identities to individual benefits for volunteers: a comparison of three sporting events

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore and identify different types of volunteers at three major sporting events: the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria; the 2012 GöteborgsVarvet (a half-marathon race), Sweden; and the 2012 FIS World Ski Flying Championships in Vikersund, Norway. Altogether, 37 volunteers were interviewed, and Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field, as well as modernization theories, were employed in the analyses. Data revealed that all three groups of volunteers had different motives for volunteer work. The young, international volunteers at the Winter Youth Olympic Games were concerned with learning and gaining experience; the volunteers at Vikersund were motivated by the commitment to the local community; while the volunteers at GöteborgsVarvet volunteered for their local sport club. In conclusion, we argue that there is an increased complexity of volunteer patterns. Theoretically speaking, there is a difference between subfields of volunteering which fit various individual habitus. Clearly, modern volunteers, particularly young people, extend the complexity of the sport field and the volunteering field.