Trust and its role in the functioning of the volunteering infrastructure

Abstract

The article analyses the role of the phenomenon of trust in the functioning of the volunteering infrastructure, which is a set of subjects, organisations and relationships that contribute to the existence and development of the institute of volunteerism. It is determined by a certain socio-cultural environment. The volunteering infrastructure includes the following elements: recipients (beneficiaries), public organisations, traditional and new media, principles of volunteering, as well as legal norms governing it, folk traditions of assistance and mutual assistance, etc. The mobility of the volunteering infrastructure reflects the specifics of the socio-demographic portrait of a volunteer in a particular country, the level of institutional development of volunteering integration of norms of mutual assistance into the value system of society. Trust, as a sociological category, is considered through the prism of the scientific ideas of E. Giddens, P. Shtompka and F. Fukuyama. It is emphasised that it plays an important role in maintaining the stability of social relations, as well as in popularising volunteer activities. Despite the fact that the study of the relationship between trust and volunteerism is presented in the works of some foreign scientists, for example A. Seligman, R. Beckers and J. Wilson, this topic remains poorly understood. Different forms of trust are distinguished in accordance with the specified elements of the volunteering infrastructure. Four levels of trust are considered: basic, personal, social and cultural. Their allocation allows us to comprehensively reflect the relationship between the phenomenon of trust and the institution of volunteerism in a certain socio-cultural environment. Personal and social levels of trust fix horizontal connections between subjects and are of particular importance when studying the informal type of volunteer activity. Secondary data from sociological studies of the level of trust are presented. It is concluded that, firstly, the level of trust affects the civic engagement of the population, and secondly, the population involved in volunteer activities demonstrates a higher level of trust than citizens without volunteering experience.