Filer

ting
ent,
’ace
IS at ~ CHAPTER 7
en-
the
1ent
The Impact of the Voluntary Sector
t奇、Ill

>m- on Society
the
DAVID HORTON SMITH
ion
1il-

H…
og
ing
出e looked at a few facets 巾
ng. impact of voluntary action from the
>ll- level of the individual up to the level of
cal social movements, let us take a final step up t。
自1- 由e highest currently applicable level of impact of
voluntarism-on society as a whole. In looking
m at impact on all of the previous system levels, it is
ita all too easy to get lost 田丑ong 出e "trees；’出us los
he ing sight of the "forest” In our view, the forest 1s
1ys the larger context of social meanmg 出at volun-
IC- tary action has in human society. By social we
of mean to include all aspects of social structure
n- and culture here, and by society we mean to in-
1g elude not just American society or any other par
n ticular society but all of mankind, past, present,
m and (hopefully) fu阳re.
!d The voluntary sector refers to all those per
sons, groups, roles, organizations, and institu四
1- lions m society whose goals involve pnmanly
to voluntary action. Roughly speaking, it mcludes
ie what one is neither made to nor p阻d to do but
>r rather what one does out of some kind of expec-
l talion of psychic benefits or commitment to
n some value, ideal, or common interest. The vol-
untary sector may be roughly delineated in a
’IV negalive way by contrasting 1t with the commer-
Lt cial or business sector (sometimes called the pn-
vate sector) and with the government or public
secto卫 Another way of describing the voluntary
sector is by sa严ng that it is the total persisting so
cial embodrment (in the form of norms, expec-
tations, customs, and ways of behaving) of
voluntary action m society.
Our question here is, simply, What impact
does the voluntary sector as a whole have on so-
ciety' There !S not sufficient research informa
tion to permit one to do an aggregate analysis,
bmldmg up a picture of the whole by systemati-
cally combming the parts-the kinds of impacts
of voluntary action at different system levels we
have been exammmg m part m pnor chapters
[of Volun阳ry Action Research]. Instead, we can
only do the very sketchiest global analysis based
on a loose induclive logic and general theoretical
considerations. In making this verγbrief and
simplistic analysis, we are again more mterested
m suggesting some lmes of possible future re
search and theory than in bemg exhaustive or
thorough.
Another way oflooking at what we are calling
the impacts of the voluntary sector is to see the
processes behmd these impacts and to term them
the “functions” or “roles”。f the voluntary sector.
These processes are not necessary features of the
voluntary sector in any given nat10n, let alone
in all nations. But they do represent what the

Originally published as "Impact of Voluntary Sector on Society:’ m Voluntary Action Research. Lexmgton, Mass
Lexington Books, 1973. Reprinted with the permission of the au由or.

71
72
voluntary sector can do and often has done in
the past in particular societies at particular
times Thrs rs an a吐empt to help delineate more
clearly why there 1s a voluntary sector in soc1-
ety, much as one might elsewhere discuss the
role of government institutions or business or
even the family m sooety. Like all of the latter,
of course, the role of the voluntary sector changes
over time in a given society and even in human
society as a whole. The impacts of the voluntary
sector we discuss briefly below are suggested as
very general aspects of the voluntary sector in
human society, and, hence, they are present to
at least some degree as long as there is a volun
tary sector
First, one of the most central impacts of the
volunt町y sector is to provide society m由 a l町ge
variety of partially tested social innovat10ns，仕om
which business, government, and other mstitu-
lions can select and institutionalize those mnova-
tions 出at seem most promising The independent
voluntary sector 1s thus 出e prototypmg test bed
of many, perhaps most, new social forms and
modes of human relations Where business and
government, science and technology are active in
由e creat10n 缸id testing of technological innova-
tions, the independent voluntary sector special
izes m 出e practical testmg of social ideas Nearly
every function currently performed by govern-
ments at various levels was once a new social idea
and the experiment of some voluntary group, for
mal or informal; this is 甘ue of education, welfare,
care for the aged, building roads, and even fight-
ing wars (volunteer citizen militias)
In sum, the voluntary sector has tended to
provide the social nsk capital of human society. It
has been sufficiently free of the kinds of con
straints that bind business (the constant need to
show a profit) and government (the need to
maintam control and, in societies with effectlve
democracies, the need to act in accord with a
broad consensus) so that its component elements
(particular voluntary groups or even individuals)
can act simply out of commitment to some value
or idea without needmg to wait until the payofJ
for that kind of acllvity can be justified in terms
appropriate to mobilizing economic or govern
mental mstitutions. It is 也us the most 毛rror-em­
bracmg” and experimental component of society
(see Smith with Dixon 1973).
David Horton Smith
Second, another central impact of the volun-
tary sector on society has been the provision of
countervailing definitions of reality and moral-
ity: ideologies, perspectives, and worldviews that
frequently challenge the prevailing assumptions
about what exists and what is good and what
should be done in societ予 The voluntary sector
is that part of society that, collectively, is most
likely to say that “ the emperor has no clothes:’
Volunt盯y groups of various ki旦出町e distinctive
among human groups in the extent to which
they develop their own ideologies and value sys-
tems. If these definitions of reality and morality
are sufficiently compelling to people, voluntary
groups grow mto huge social movements and
can change the course of history, both withm a
given nation (e g , the abolitionist movement in
the early and middle nineteenth century of the
United States) and aero臼 human society as a
whole (e g, Christianity, Buddhism, democracy,
commumsm).
This kind of impact of the voluntary sector is
related to the previous one, but where the 画armer
kind of impact emphasized e碍eriment甜on with
social innovation in practice, the present impact
emphasizes instead ideological and moral inno-
vation Where the previous point focused on the
social risk capital role of the voluntary sector m
society, the pr田ent pomt focuses on the role of
the voluntary sector as a gadfl严 dreamer, and
moral leader in societ予 Voluntary groups ofvar
ious kinds are concerned with 出e generation and
allocation of human commitment m the deepest
sense. In the process of doing this, the voluntary
sector as a whole provides moral and ideological
leadership to the majority of human society and
often calls mto question 出e existing legitimacy
structures and accepted social defimtions ofre-
ality of particular societies.
A third m句 or impact of the voluntary sector
on sooety is to provide 也e play element in soci
ety, especially as the search for novelty, beauty,
recreation, and fun for their own sake may be
collecllvely organized Agam, because the volun
tary sector is not constrained generally by such
values as profit, control, and broad social con-
sensus, voluntary groups can 岛rm in terms oflit
erally thousands of different kinds of common
mterests A full array of common mterest groups
(especially expressive rather than mstrumental
 The Impact of the Voluntary Sιtor on So口ety
trd
Iit on田） in an elaborated but still evolving volun-
t旺y sector permits (in principle) nearly all indi
;
廿J
viduals to find at least one group that will be
MmA叫时吼
>
1t
:1
11
目tis市ingto 也em. If there is no such group, one
or mo咄 individuals may form one, if they wish,
to reflect 白白r own needs and v1s10n of the play
element. Such a group may be formal or infor
: mal, large or small, permanent or transient, open
ηS时主 tr
1I
or closed, and so forth.
To speak of the play element here is not to
,‘
speak of something trivial and unimportant As
rl society becomes increasingly complex and work
时，mdda 咀坦
activity is increasingly structured in terms of
>
large bureaucracies, people’s unsatisfied needs for
tt1t
play, novelty, new expenence, and all manner of
recreation tend to increase. The kind of easy in-
terchange and blending of play and work that
could be present in more traditional economies
avp
tends to be lost. Under such circumstances, vol-
: untary groups often provide a window of variety
and intrinsic satisfaction in an otherwise rather
sr1t
Ieduc
boring or at least psychically fatiguing world of
work and responsib血t予
Fourth, the volunt盯y sector also has a m勾or
impact on the level of social mtegrat10n in soc1-
:
h’昭
et予 Partly through directly expressive groups,
1
whose arms are explicitly to provide 岳llowship,
ndd·
l
!
sociability, and mutual companionship, and
: partly through the sociabili句r aspects of all other
lIlf
kinds of collective and interpersonal forms of
－ d
voluntary action, the voluntary sector helps in a
very basic way to satisfy some of the human
注
needs for affiliation, approval, and so on In ad
vddd vanced industrial and urbanized societies, where
the family and kinship as well as the local com-
munity and neighborhood play a markedly re
y duced role in providing social integration,
affiliations based on common mterests can be-
come very important to the mdlVldual. Indeed,
'r wτthout the latter ki且d ofvolunt町y, sector based,
common interest affiliations, the resulting rates
ι of individual social isolation m society would
e lead to even more anomie, alienation, and a van-
ety of attendant social and psychological prob
1 lems than are now the case. Obviously, the
voluntary sector has not been the whole solution
to the root problem of social isolation in modern
1sl society, yet voluntary groups do play a demon-
strable and important p町t in the solution. And
with 由e feeling of being accepted as a person 由at
73
the voluntary sector pro世des (or can provide) to
a significant proportion of the populat10n in
modern societies goes the correlative provision
of positive af丑eel, a m句or component of human
happiness and the quality of human life.
Ano由er aspect of the role of the voluntary
sector in providing social integration is the social
adjustment 飞u他ring”“nction that many kinds
of voluntary groups pro世de When numerous in-
dividuals of a certain social and cultural back
ground are for some reason uprooted 仕om their
custom盯Y societal niches, new voluntary groups
仕equently emerge to provide these individuals
with an insulated or "buffered" special environ
ment for part of their time Typical examples
would be the numerous immigrant associations
that sprang up m the Umted States as a result of
successive waves of immigration from various
countries (Handlin 1951) or the kinship-oriented
voluntary assoc1ahons that emerged to ease the
adjustment of rural West Africans to life m large
cities (Little 1965).
These kinds of social a句ustment oriented
voluntary groups do not, however, emerge only
m 也e case of phys1cal/geograph1cal changes on
a large scale. The volunt盯y sector also provides a
social adjustment mechanism to ease the shocks
of social dislocations and rapid social change写 of
all sorts. The voluntary groups involved may
cater to a former elite that has been disenfran
chised or deprived of its former holdings (e.g叼
the association of mahar苟ahs of India, which
arose to fight for “ maharajahs righ时’ when the
Indian Congress stripped them of their tradi-
tional privileges and land, substituting a moder-
ate annual stipend) Or the voluntary groups
involved may represent a deprived category of
persons who are attempting to adjust to changed
social conditions 由at are more conducive to their
sh町ing equitably in the good life as lived in 也eir
society (e g , the early labor unions or black
power groups, striving for recognition of their
right to exist and to fight for the betterment of
由e conditions of their constituencies)
On another level, the voluntary sector plays
an import阻t integrative role by linking together
individuals, groups, mstitut10ns and even nations
that otherwise would be m greater conflict, or at
least competition, with each other. (This and
other impacts of voluntary groups are discussed
F『
74
fur吐＞er in Smith 1966.) At 出e community level, a
variety of volunt盯y associations will each tend
to have as members a set of two or more individ
uals representing differing and o丘en opposing
political, relig旧时， cultural, or social perspectiv臼
and backgrounds The copart1cipation of this set
of md1viduals in the same voluntary association
C四 havesigm且cant moderating ef岳ctson 由e re-
lationships among these individuals Similar m
tegrative effects can be found at nat10nal levels,
where several groups from different parts of the
country and/or dif岳出nt social and cultural per
spect1ves participate together ma common fed-
eration or other national voluntary orgamzation.
And at the internat10nal level, the jomt partici
pation of voluntary groups from otherwise con-
flicting nations in some transnational federative
orgamzation may well have important long
range effects on the relations between the coun
tries involved and on the possrbrlities of peace m
the world.
Afi丘h kind of general impact of the voluntary
sector mvolves the opposite of the first one,
which dealt with the social innovation role of
voluntarism In addition to providing a wide va
riety of new ideas about social behav10r, the
voluntary sector also is active in preserving nu-
merous 。Id ideas. Voluntary action and voluntary
orgamzat10ns have played am勾or role in history
in preserving values, ways of life, ideas, beliefs,
artifacts, and other productions of the mind,
heart, and hand of man from e盯lier times so that
this great variety of human culture rs not lost t。
“ ture generations For example, there 町·e in the
Umted States numerous local historical societies
that specialize m preservmg the history of par“
ticular towns and 町eas. There 町e nonpro自t vol-
untary organizations that run local museums,
libraries, and historical sites. And there are a
number of voluntary organizations whose pri
mary function is to preserve the values of cul-
tures or subcultures that no longer have any
substantial power or importance in American
society but 出at nevertheless represent a way of
life of srgnificant numbers of people at some pe
nod in history or somewhere around the world
(e.g, American Indian groups, in some in-
stances, or immigrant ethnic associations that
persist long after the ethmc group involved has
been thoroughly assimilated into American cul-
David Ho『ton Smith
ture) The role of municipal, state与 and national
governments in supporting museums and his-
toncal 日tes grows from the roots of earlier non-
pro缸， nongovernmental support of such "rslands
of culture:'
Another aspect of the belief/value preserva-
tion role of the voluntary sector involves volun
tary associat10ns as educational experiences,
especially where these associations are a口empt­
ing to pass on to their members or to the pubhc
at large some body of beliefs and values originat-
mg m the past. In part this would include many
of the activities of most religious sects and de-
nominations, especially insofar as one focuses on
their sociahzat10n and indoctrination activitres
(e吕， catechism classes,“Sunday schools:’ He-
brew day schools, etc.). In part this function also
includes all manner of more strictly educational
voluntary orgamzations, from Plato’s Academy
(see Peterson and Peterson 1973) to modern
Great Books Discussion Groups and so called
“ Free Universities :’
The various levels of government m the con
temporary world have largely taken over the task
of educat10n on a broad scale, yet voluntary or-
ganizations still are active in supplementmg gov
ermnent run educational systems by filling in 出e
gaps and by prodding these systems to improve
or take on responsibility for the preservation of
additional knowledge or values. For instance,
voluntary civil rights and black liberation organ-
izations have taken the lead in educating both
blacks and whites in the United States regarding
black history and accomplishments. Gradually,
under the pressure of such voluntary associa
lions in the past several years, the public educa-
tional system in the United States has been
changing to accommodate a more accurate and
complete picture of black history, although the
process is by no means finished yet. Srm1lar ex-
amples could be given with regard to other
content areas as well (e.g., women’s history,
American Indian histor弘 etc).
A six也 m句or impact of the voluntary sector is
its embodiment and repr臼entation in society of
the sense of mystery, wonder, and the sacred
Neither the business nor government sectors 扭
modern society have much tendency to be con-
cerned Wlth such matters. Many would say that
religion today is very much a big business, and
imith II The Impact of the Volun阳ry Sector on Society 75

onal bo由 business and government support science institut10ns of society have played a role as well
his- in a substantial way. Yet precisely in those areas (e.g., education, the 也mily, religion, etc.).
ion- where religion and science almost meet, where Voluntary associations and groups, on the
旧ds the borders of religion are receding under the other hand, have long been a pnm町ymeansofat
pressure of an ever expanding science, the bu曰“ least partially escaping these barriers and boxes
rva- ness and government sectors 盯e often least in- Through participation in voluntary action, a
lun volved. Voluntary associations and nonprofit wide variety of people have been able to find or
ces, foundat10ns/research organizations are the only create special social groups that would permit
npt- ~~o~~~s~~~r~：~n~~： seriously with new forms them to grow as mdrviduals. This kmd of per-
1blic -mduced “ consc10usness sonal growth has many relevant aspects but can

：：~~~；，”ti；：~~~eo“；~~~~~sa~c甲e：；，＇：~~：a；：’s也en：~~y
nat- be summed up generally as “ self-actualizat10n:’
1any to use a term from Maslow (1954). For some this
de- percept10n, etc. means intellectual development, the process of
son The “ heretics" of both science and religion becoming increasmgly analytical, mformed, and
it1es are seldom supported in 由e1r work directly and self二consc10us about the nature of one's life situ
He- consciously by the business or government sec ation and problems When this occurs for a
also tors. Only through voluntary action and the whole category or group of people, the process is
ma! support of the voluntary sector have the major ”
often referred to as “ group conscienticization or
'my changes m man’s view of the supernatural and ”(
“ consciousness raising e.g, annong blacks,
em its relation to the natural tended to come about women, the poor). Seldom does such special per-
!led in the past. The same has also been true, by and sonal growth occur on a broad scale outside vol-
large, for m勾 or changes in man's view of him- untary groups and movements.
on self and of the natural universe in the past The For others, self-actualizat10n through voluntary
:ask dominant economic and political (and reh- action takes the form of developing otherwise un-
or gious) systems of any given epoch are seldom used capacities, talents, skills，。r potentials of a
:ov very receptive to the really new visions of either more active and practical sort. For many kinds of
出e the natural or supernatural world (e.g., Galileo people, depending on the stage of social, eco
。，ve and Copernicus, Jesus) Voluntary action is nomic, and political development of a society,
l of thus the principal manner in which a sense of voluntary associat10ns and voluntary action offer
ice, the sacred, the mysteno时， and the weird can be the only feasible opportunity for leadership, for
an- preserved and permitted some measure of 四” learning to speak in public, for practicing 出efine
oth pression in our otherwise hyper-rational con- art of management, for exercising analytical
ing temporary society. judgment, etc. Until very recently in American
llly, A seventh impact of the voluntary sector re society, for mstance, neither blacks nor women
.ra- suits from its ability to liberate the individual and nor the members of certain other disadvantaged
ca- permit him or her the fullest possible measure of groups could hope to develop fully their capaci
eon expression of personal capacities and potentiali ties through the occupational system of the eco-
md ties within an otherwise constrammg soc咀l en- nom1c or government sectors Only in voluntary
the vironment All societies have their systems of groups of their own making could they seek any
ex laws, customs, roles, and orgamzations that box kind of ful tllment and self-expression, bound as
lier people in and limit their opportunities for per- they were (and in part continue to be) by the
>ry, sonal expre臼ion and personal development. The prejudices and discrimination of the dommant
full extent of societal limitations on people has white, male, Anglo Saxon Protestants m our so-
rIS JUst begun to be realized in recent decades, ciety. However, this situat10n is not unique to
'Of spurred m part by the "hberat10n" movements of the United States There are similar and even
ed. women, blacks, the poor，由e "Third World;’ and different forms of pr句udice and discrimination
in other disadvantaged or disenfranchised groups in all other societies, varying only in degree and
m The primary embodiments of these societal bar- the particular social groups singled out 且or at-
liat ners and boxes have generally been the economic tention And mall soCleties voluntary associa-
nd and governmental systems, although other m句or tions also offer the disadvantaged some chance
,..
76
of enhanced self-development，也ough these as-
sociations must sometimes meet in secret as un
derground groups if也e society in which they 盯e
operating is oppressive and does not respect the
right of free association
Voluntary action potentially offers unique op-
portunities for personal gro•巾 and realization
of personal potentials not only for those people
whom society otherwise deprives but also for all
the members of society in cert阻n directio时， No
matter how free, open, egalitarian, and highly de
veloped 出e society, there are always limitations
of some sort placed on the development of each
person by his particular social enV!ronment. Any
m勾or decision to follow a certam line of per
sonal, occupat10nal, or educat10nal development,
for instance, automatically forecloses a number
of other alternatives, or at least makes them
highly unlikely. Voluntary associations, however,
exist (or can exist) in such profusion and v旺出ty
that 由ey can provide otherwise missed personal
development opportunities to almost any person
at almost any stage of life. This is as true for the
school teacher who always wanted to learn to fly
(and who can join a flyiog club to do so even at
age 60), as it is for the airline pilot who always
wanted to write novels (and who can join a
writer’s club to work toward 出1s end).
Of course, not every person will find the ap-
propriate voluntary association for his or her per-
sonal growth needs to be available at the time it is
needed But the voluntary sector as a whole, nev
ertheless, sl!ll serves in some sign泊cant degree
this general role of providing substantial num-
bers of individuals in society with otherwise un
available opportunities for selιactualization and
self-fulfillment.
Aneigh出 major impact of the voluntary sec-
tor m society is one of overnding unportance, re-
lating directly to the first and second impacts
discussed above We are referring to the impact
of the voluntary sector as a source of “ negative
feedback'' for society as a whole, especially with
regard to the directions taken by the major in
sl!tutions of society such as government and
business. Without “ negative feedback;:’ any sys-
tem is dangerously vulnerable to destroying itself
through excesses m one direction or another.
Thus, however uncomfortable and irritating 也ey
may be at times, voluntary associat10ns and the
David Ho『ton Smith
voluntary sector are absolutely vital to the con-
tinuing development of a society
This systemic corrective role of the voluntary
sector is, of course, not carried out by all volun-
tary associations, any more than all volunt盯yas­
sociations 町e concerned with 由e play element,
value preservation, or the sacred. Yet the small
cutting edge of the voluntary sector that does
perform 由e role of social cntic is extremely im-
portant, usually bearing the responsibility for the
continued existence and future grow也 of the rest
of the voluntary sector. In societies where a suffi-
c1ent number and vanety of volunt盯y groups are
unable to play e出ecl!vely their roles as social crit-
ics, the dominant governmental and economic
msl!tutions may well take over and suppress 也e
entire voluntary sector (e品， Allen 1965).
In the contemporary United States there are
numerous examples of voluntary associations
and groups playing this systemic correcl!ve role
All of the cause oriented, advocacy, and issue
oriented groups tend to fall into this category,
from the environmental movement to the civil
rights movement and women’s liberation. The
tactics and strategies of such groups cover a
broad range, from rather traditional lobbying
through demonstrations and αbe-u四” to direct
remedial action such as “ ecotage”( sabotage of
notable corporate polluters and other 毛nviron
mental undesirables”).
Some of the more imaginative and innovative
approaches have been developed in an attempt to
modify 出e busine理s sector rather than 岛cusing
solely on the government sector. For mstance,
there have been m” depth investigations by Ralph
Nader and his a臼ociates of particular companies'
practices 四d their relationship to the public 皿－
terest (e.g., for First National City Bank of New
York and for DuPont), counter management
stockholder activity in the public interest (e.g.,
Project G.M.), dissenting annual reports wntten
to present a full public accounting of a corpora-
tion's activities harmful to the general public in-
terest and welfare, class action suits brought by
voluntary groups agamst manufacturers and de-
velopers, etc.
When looked at in the p盯tic吐ar, such activi
ties (which vary markedly in their success) o丘en
seem fruitless and doomed to 鱼ilure given the
power of the organizations and systems being
’1ith The Impact of the Voluntary Sector on Society
on- challenged. Yet when we see these actlVlties of
voluntary groups in a larger context, when 飞'le
时回回回叫出国也阳且 umeMmb
vd
sum up these numerous activities a吐empting to
modify and improve the dominant systems and
？川
organizations of our society, they take on a very
LUS
i呻ortant general meamng. Even if many or
most of such system-correct10n attempts by vol-
untary groups should fail, the continual and ex
panding pressure being brought to bear by the
－
et
voluntary sector on the central institutions of so-
ciety is still likely to have a salutary long term
modi守ing influence. When the leaders of 由e
－
E
business and governmental sectors know that
、omeone is watching,” that they will eventually
－二
have to account to the public interest for 白白r ac
2
tions，由is awareness encourages greater a仕ention
to the public interest ra出er 由an merely to nar-
盯 mJλmw
esa row, private mterests.
When for one reason or another the voluntary
sector is not able to operate effectively as a sys-
- temic corrective （自由er because of its own inad
RHeagtf
凡 WEr
equacies or the failure of the leaders of dommant
mstitutions to listen and change accordingly），也e
usual result in human history has been a broad
social revolution (not just a palace revolution or
咀民 om
simple coup). When the dommant inslltut10ns of
any society have iguored for too long or too o丘en
the voices of the public interest as expressed by
elements of the voluntary sector, revolut10nary
and usually underground voluntary groups arise
ive and make concrete plans to overthrow the exist
to ing system completely. The American, French,
ghqh
nGP
Russian, Chmese, Cuban, and other revolut10ns
all a忧est to this pattern
Thus, when the voluntary sector cannot make
,-
臼 nm川咀
itself heard adequately through the permissible
communication and influence channels in a so-
Nt ciety, certain voluntary groups and movements
tend to anse to revamp the whole system, estab-
B 凹 anbee
lishing whole new institutional arrangements
叩
2
with their corresponding new channels of influ-
vjjj
ence and commumcation. Not surprismgly, these
－－
new channels generally favor those kinds of per-
F
sons and groups who were unable to be heard
previously (although the kinds of people for-
－
merly dominant o丘en end up in as bad a posi-
• hon or worse than that faced by the 且ormerly
rυ531
neco disadvantaged prior to the revolution). This cycle
飞'lill tend to repeat itself unttl a society reaches a
point where it is e他ctively and continuously self
77
correcting through the act!VIlles of a strong and
social change-oriented voluntary sector and
where its major institutions 盯e basically operat
ingprimar过y in the public interest of all of its cit-
izens (not JUSt its white, male, Anglo Saxon
Protestants, or their equivalents in some o由er
societies than the United States 缸id the British
Comm off飞￥ealth).
Thenmth m句 or rmpact of the voluntary sec-
tor worth mentioning here is the support given
by the voluntary sector specifically to the eco
nomic system of a society, especially a modern
industrial societ予 Voluntary associat10ns of
many kinds provide crucial kinds of social, intel-
lectual, and technical linkages 缸nong workers in
numerous occupations· Professional associat10ns
mcrease the effectiveness of most kinds of SCien-
lists, engmeers, technicians, etc., just as manu
facturers’ and trade associations support the
growth of whole industries. And various kinds of
labor unions play their part as well, although
many businessmen would question the degree to
which 也町、upport'’ the economic system. But
labor unions only seem nonsupportive of the
economic system when the latter is viewed nar-
rowly from the point of view of an employer in-
terested solely in pro且t maximization. Labor
umons ultimately have to be deeply concerned
with the viab山ty of the economic system and the
productivity of their own members if they are to
surVIve.
This economic support role of the voluntary
sector is usually lost sight of because so many
people tend to view all kinds of economic self-
interest and occupationally related voluntary as
sociations as integral parts of the busmess sector.
Jn fact, these kinds of voluntary organizations are
qmte distinct from the busmess sector itself,
however close their relationship m电ht be to busi-
ness corporat10ns and occupat10nal activities.
The primary purpose of business corporations
is to make a profit for their owners, whether
they are actually involved in running the cor-
poration or not. On the other hand, economic
self-mterest voluntary associations have as their
primary purpose the enhancement of the long-
term occupational and economic interests of their
member-participants While corporation employ-
ees and professionals are paid in salaries, wages,
or fees for their participation, the members of
r'""
78
economic self-interest voluntary associations
themselves pay for the privilege of belonging to
and benefiting from these associallons.
The tenth m呵。r impact of 由e voluntary sec
tor we shall note is a rather subtle one· The vol-
untary sector constitutes an important latent
resource for all kinds of goal attainment in the
interests of the society as a whole Put another
way, the voluntary sector represents a tremen-
dous reservoir of potential energy that can be
mobilized under appropriate circumstances for
broad societal goals The role of the voluntary
sector in revolut10nary S1tuat10ns lS but one ex-
ample of this latent potential. The activity of vol
untary association networks in more limited
disaster S1tuat10ns lS a more common example
(Barton 1970). The volunt盯y sector and its com-
ponent associations, groups, and channels of
communicallon and influence make possible the
mobilization oflarge numbers of people on rela
tively short notice for special purposes (usually
in the common mterest) without resorting to
economic rewards or legal coercion as activating
且orces Such a latent potential in the voluntary
sector is especially important when neither eco-
nomic nor political-legal forces can feasibly be
brought to bear to resolve some widespread
problem situation
The latent potential of the voluntary sector
can be viewed in another way as well Volun-
tarism is based on a charitable grants economy
(donations of llme, money, etc ) as contrasted
with the coer口ve grants economy (t缸ation) on
which the government sector operates or the
market economy on which the busmess sector
operates. Both of the latter types of economy
work well for certain kinds of purposes, but nei-
ther works well for the accomplishment of all
kinds of purposes m society. In the same way,
there are many kinds of purposes and activities
(several of which are implicit in the nme m句or
impacts of the voluntary sector reviewed above)
for which the charitable grants economy tends to
work best
Now the important latent potential of the vol-
untary sector is that, under appropriately com
pe出ng circumstanc臼（1.e., for the “ right” value,
goal or ideal), the money, goods, real property,
and services mobilized by the voluntary sector
由rough the charitable grants economy can com-
David Ha『tan Smith
pletely overwhelm all considerations of the coer-
口ve grants economy and the market economy.
For certam goals and ideals, a large m句ority of
society can be mduced to 亏ive their all" and to
do so gladly, willingly, and voluntarily. This does
not occur very often, to be sure, nor does it last
very long. But the latent potential is there in any
society at any time. With 由e right spark-usually
a charismatic leader with an idea and an ideal-
the course of history can be changed in these
brief, rare periods of almost total societal mobi
lization through the leadership of the voluntary
sector.
The Negative Side
In describing the foregoing ten types of impact
that the voluntary sector tends to have m some
degree in any society, we have emphaSlzed the
positive contributions that voluntary action
makes to societ予 Ho飞!fever，因 with any form of
human group or activity, voluntary action and
the voluntary sector are bγno means always pos-
itive in their impacts For every 田ie of the ten
可pes of impact we have noted, there can be neg-
ati时 consequences m certam circumstances and
with regard tn certain values Thus, when volun-
tary associations experiment with new social
forms, the failures can often be harmful to spe-
cific people and organiz旺ions. When alternative
definit10ns of reality and morality are offered,
these can be evil, as m the case of Nazi Germany
and its ideology as generated by the Nazi party, a
voluntary asso口at10n When voluntary groups
focus on the play element, th田r fun can become
mischievous, as in the case of a boys' gang that
wrecks a school “ just for kicks :’ When social
clubs provide a warm and clcse sense of belong-
ing to their members, they can also create deep
dissatis岛ction in people who would dearly like
to belong but are excluded from a particul盯 club
or kind of club.
In the same way, voluntary gro旧ps stri世ngto
preserve some beliefs or values from the past
may be holding on to anachrcnisms that would
be better left to the pages of histc ry books.
Clubs whose members chase around seeking
flying sauc盯s and little green men from Mars
might more profitably spend their time and 凹’
Smith Thelmpa币t of the Voluntary Sector on Society 79
阳山myd
卜 1’，灶。骂过
主

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I

.~izations that arouse the 缸11 potentials of black den City, New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday and
《

people-who must then go out into the real Cnmpany.

t

world and face a harsh reality of bigotry and dis- Handlin, Oscar.1951. The Uprooted. New York: Gros-
’且－

set and Dunlap.

暗

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Little, Kenneth 1965. 阳est A卢ican Urbanization: A
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eyy
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Smi也， David Horton, with John Dixon. 1973 “咀1eVol
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