Volunteering as a Service to the Common Good

A state cannot survive in the long term without voluntary civic engagement. Sascha Liebermann is convinced of this.

What significance does volunteering have? If you ask Sascha Liebermann, Professor of Sociology at the Institute for Philosophical and Aesthetic Education, broad-based voluntary activity is an important factor for a healthy common good. He believes that it cannot exist without volunteering, as he says in an interview with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Bonn/Rhine-Sieg (IHK): “Associations, welfare organizations, churches, parties, the volunteer fire brigade – they all depend on volunteers.” For the expert in the field of the welfare state and economic state, it is therefore clear that no state can manage without unpaid social commitment by its citizens. As a concrete example, he cites the events of the summer of 2015, when large numbers of refugees arrived in Germany within a short period of time: “Municipalities were faced with the task of taking in the many refugees. Here, it was volunteer helpers who stepped in first,” the sociologist explains. At the same time, this example also shows what matters most to volunteers in their commitment: making an active contribution to a healthy common good.

How has the willingness to volunteer changed in recent years? “One thing still applies: volunteering has not lost any of its importance!” says Liebermann. This is currently evident from the flood disaster in Germany. Even now, countless people travel to the crisis regions every day to support the clean-up work there on a voluntary basis. However, the sociologist points out that because the importance of gainful employment has continued to increase in recent years, comparatively less time is being devoted to voluntary work. This is particularly related to people’s individual financial situation: “It is often overlooked that you have to be able to afford volunteering; in other words, you first need to have sufficient income in order to be able to get involved.”  More on this can be found in the interview with the IHK. You can access the interview here.

Sascha Liebermann explains to what extent the significance of voluntary work could be enhanced by an unconditional basic income in episode 1, “Never go to work again?” of the student podcast Alanus Punkt.Landung.