Heterogeneity of Context, Varieties of Volunteering. The Italian Case in an International Perspective

Contemporary societies are more complex than the past, and the same seems to apply to volunteering. Nevertheless, a full account of the varieties of volunteering in relation to the heterogeneity of the spatial context is still missing. The chapter establishes an initial ground for a situated analysis of the varieties of volunteering in a complex country (Italy), made possible by the adoption of the ILO (2011) global standard. Theoretically, the chapter develops the basic assumption of the “social embeddedness theory”, according to which volunteering is a context-dependent phenomenon, by addressing the intricacy of possible relationships between the heterogeneities of territorial contexts and the diversified patterns of volunteering in complex countries. Empirically, the chapter evidences that Italy is an outstanding testbed for a complexity-driven analysis by focusing on the territorial structure of the “antecedents” of volunteering at macro-regional, regional and sub-regional levels. The implementation of the ILO (2011) standard on voluntary work within this “mosaic” of intra-national differences offers a chance for unprecedented cross-region and cross-country analyses of volunteering.