Post-modern volunteering and Expo 2015 in Milan

Big international events, such as Olympic games or International Expositions, are stimulating a relevant social phenomenon in recent years, that is also visible in other circumstances, e.g. mass emergencies or humanitarian crises: a mobilisation of volunteers to a single issue, for a short period, but with an intensive dedication. This occurs outside traditional structures of volunteering, namely associations; without labels, belongings, ideological commitment. I call it “post-modern volunteering”. I examined such phenomenon heading a research study on volunteers for the event of EXPO 2015 in Milan. Here, about 5,000 people took part in the event as volunteers. 2,376 (48 percent) have responded to an interview. 66 percent are women, mainly young (27.55 the average age). Almost half (45 percent) never took part in a regular form of volunteering, 30 percent did it in the past. For what regards their motivations, three profiles emerge. The first profile can be labelled “scattered” (33.2 percent): it identifies people who combine altruistic values and self-interested goals. They are inserted in social networks which recognize and appreciate volunteering. The second profile can be termed “ self-employers” (36.6%): it gives more importance to personal reasons, and in particular to benefits for professional career. The third group can be called “promoters of their own development” (30.3 percent), and emphasizes a wider vision of personal fulfilment. The study highlights also two possible outcomes of this non conventional experience of volunteering: it can be a first step to meet other, more regular forms of volunteering; or it can remain a single-issue choice, with the possibility to repeat it in future events. In conclusion, this research study shows that volunteering is taking more various and blurred forms. It is less framed into stable and structured forms, and more open to flexible, temporary and light forms of involvement. This is what I call “post-modern volunteering”.