Volunteering and active citizenship
Jeni Warburton
School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Queensland
Contact Email:   J.Warburtonsocial.uq.edu.au

Using governmentality as a theoretical framework, this paper examines the Australian policy context where the federal government is attempting to discipline those outside paid work into becoming active citizens. This is based on the classic liberal notion that a good citizen is one who contributes to the community through paid or unpaid work. Volunteers, like paid workers, are discursively positioned as good citizens through their active demonstration of personal responsibility. The logical extension of this belief is to compel the unemployed to pursue compulsory volunteer-type activities, such as mutual obligation and service learning programs. This paper draws on data from focus groups of young people to suggest why policies that compel individuals to contribute to society may instead actually weaken their citizenship identities and lead to further exclusion.

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