Folk traditions and customs of mutual assistance as cultural determinants of the phenomenon of volunteering in the modern society

  • Alesya A. Pokhomova Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

Abstract

In the article, the author analyses the phenomenon of volunteering through the prism of a retrospective analysis of folk traditions and the custom of mutual assistance. The purpose of the work was to consider the universality of the phenomenon of assistance as a structural element of volunteering through folk traditions and customs. The article focuses on the social phenomenon of assistance and mutual assistance as an existential embodiment of the value of the Other. Tradition is considered as a value-normative anchor in an era of risk, uncertainty and event intensity. Ethnographic studies and their results indicate that for the successful functioning of the local community in a traditional society, the custom of mutual assistance in various aspects of everyday life was followed. Folk customs of mutual assistance performed the function of social protection for the most vulnerable categories of people at the early stages of human history. Later, the values of caring for one’s neighbour and helping those in need were internalised in the corpus of religious ideology, taking the forms of charity, alms, etc. With the strengthening of rationalisation, the formation of a secular state, state institutions in the field of social protection of the population appeared, and the phenomenon of social assistance and mutual assistance took the form of volunteering in the context of civil society.

Author Biography

Alesya A. Pokhomova, Belarusian State University, 4 Niezaliezhnasci Avenue, Minsk 220030, Belarus

PhD (sociology), docent; associate professor at the department of sociology, faculty of philosophy and social sciences

References

  1. Sorokin PA. [The mysterious energy of love. Part 1]. Sociological Studies. 1991;8:121–137. Russian.
  2. Kreps TV. Interdisciplinary approach in research and teaching: advantages and problems of application. Scientific bulletin of the Southern Institute of Management. 2019;1:115–120. Russian. DOI: 10.31775/2305-3100-2019-1-115-120.
  3. Durkheim DE. Elementarnye formy religioznoi zhizni. Totemicheskaya sistema v Avstralii [Elementary forms of religious life. The totemic system in Australia]. Appolonov A, Kotel’nikova T, translators. Moscow: Delo; 2018. 736 p. Russian.
  4. Kuz’minchuk AA. [Volunteering as a social institution]. In: Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin. Materialy XVII Mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii pamyati professora L. N. Kogana. Kul’tura, lichnost’, obshchestvo v sovremennom mire: metodologiya, opyt empiricheskogo issledovaniya; 20–21 marta 2014 g.; Ekaterinburg, Rossiya [Materials of the XVII International Conference in memory of professor L. N. Kogan. Culture, personality, society in the modern world: methodology, experience of empirical research; 2014 March 20–21; Yekaterinburg, Russia]. Yekaterinburg: Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin; 2014. p. 1011–1017. Russian.
  5. Shavel’ SA. [Methodological aspects of the sociological study of the civilisational and cultural code]. In: Danilov AN, Mamedov AK, editor. Kul’turnye kody v tsifrovuyu epokhu [Cultural codes in the digital age]. Minsk: National Institute for Higher Education; 2023. p. 4–73. Russian.
  6. Babosov EM. The cultural code of the nation: a subject and the features. Science and Innovation. 2016;3:48–50. Russian.
  7. Ashkerov AYu. Sotsial’naya antropologiya [Social anthropology]. Moscow: Market DS Korporeishn; 2005. 608 р. (Universitetskaya seriya). Russian.
  8. Rudnev VA. Obryady narodnye i obryady tserkovnye [Folk rites and church rites]. Leningrad: Lenizdat; 1982. 159 р. Russian.
  9. Moss M. Obshchestva. Obmen. Lichnost’ [Societies. Exchange. Personality]. Gofman AB, translator. Moscow: Knizhnyi dom «Universitet»; 2014. [Experience about the gift. The form and basis of exchange in archaic societies]; р. 134–279. Russian.
  10. Schrader H. Ekonomicheskaya antropologiya [Economic anthropology]. Saint Petersburg: Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie; 1999. 192 р. Russian.
  11. Cooper L. Patterns of mutual assistance in the Mongolian pastoral economy. Nomadic Peoples. Pastoralism in Mongolia. 1993;33:153–162.
  12. Molotova TL. Customs of mutual assistance in traditional female domestic handiwork of the Mari people. Yearbook of Finno-Ugric Studies. 2014;2:69–73. Russian.
  13. Potkanski T. Mutual assistance among the Ngorongoro Maasai. In: Anderson DM, Broch-Due V, editors. The poor are not us: poverty and pastoralism in Eastern Africa. Oxford: James Currey; 1999. p.199–217.
  14. Ranajit Das Gupta. A labour history of social security and mutual assistance in India. Economic and Political Weekly. 1994;29(11–12):612–620.
  15. Desy M, Agustin R, dan Utami JA. Communication of mutual assistance in the melemang tradition of Karang Raja Muara Enim Village. Sosiohumaniora. Jurnal Ilmu-ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora. 2023;25(1):21–28.
  16. Slikkerveer LJ. Gotong Royong: an indigenous institution of communality and mutual assistance in Indonesia. In: Slikkerveer L, Baourakis G, Saefullah K, editors. Integrated community-managed development. Cooperative management [Internet]. 2019 [cited 2023 July 15]. Available from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-05423-6_14.
  17. Pilipenko MF. Etnografiya Belorussii [Ethnography of Belarus]. Minsk: Vyshjejshaja shkola; 1981. 192 р. Russian.
  18. Yudina NA. Russkie obychai i obryady [Russian customs and rituals]. Moscow: Veche; 2006. 320 р. Russian.
  19. Tennis F. Obshchnost’ i obshchestvo: osnovnye ponyatiya chistoi sotsiologii [Community and society: basic concepts of pure sociology]. Sklyadnev DV, translator. Saint Petersburg: Vladimir Dal’; 2002. 452 р. Russian.
  20. Sztompka P. Sotsiologiya sotsial’nykh izmenenii [Sociology of social change]. Yadov VA, translator. Moscow: Aspect press; 1996. 416 р. Russian.
  21. Potkanski T. Mutual assistance among the Ngorongoro Maasai. In: Anderson DM, editor. The poor are not us: poverty and pastoralism in Eastern Africa (Eastern African studies). London: James Currey Ltd; 2000. p. 199–217.
  22. Kuz’menko TV. [Social mechanisms of support and mutual assistance in rural society]. In: Tsyganov AR editor. Sbornik nauchnykh statei Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii. Sotsial’nye problemy sovremennogo sela v ekonomicheskom i sotsiologicheskom izmerenii; 4–6 oktyabrya 2007 g.; Gorki, Belarus’ [Collection of scientific articles of the International scientific and practical conference. Social problems of modern villages in economic and sociological dimensions; 2007 October 4–6; Gorki, Belarus]. Gorki: Belarusian State Agricultural Academy; 2007. p. 104–106.
Published
2023-11-05
Keywords: volunteer activity, traditions, mutual assistance, culture, folk customs, trust, rationality, local communities
How to Cite
Pokhomova, A. A. (2023). Folk traditions and customs of mutual assistance as cultural determinants of the phenomenon of volunteering in the modern society. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philosophy and Psychology, 3, 33-41. Retrieved from https://journals.bsu.by/index.php/philosophy/article/view/5552
Issue
No 3 (2023): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philosophy and Psychology
Section
Social Researches

Copyright (c) 2023 Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philosophy and Psychology

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The authors who are published in this journal agree to the following:

  1. The authors retain copyright on the work and provide the journal with the right of first publication of the work on condition of license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial. 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
  2. The authors retain the right to enter into certain contractual agreements relating to the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work (e.g. post it on the institutional repository, publication in the book), with the reference to its original publication in this journal.
  3. The authors have the right to post their work on the Internet (e.g. on the institutional store or personal website) prior to and during the review process, conducted by the journal, as this may lead to a productive discussion and a large number of references to this work. (See The Effect of Open Access.)