The perception of volunteering in Türkiye: socio-cultural factors and structural-institutional continuities

Zeynep Sadıkoğlu Z., ERDOĞAN COŞKUN A., BAŞ M. F., ŞENTÜRK M., Tekgöz N.

Southeast European and Black Sea Studies, 2025 (SSCI) identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2025
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/14683857.2025.2480447
  • Dergi Adı: Southeast European and Black Sea Studies
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, Historical Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, Index Islamicus, Political Science Complete, Public Affairs Index, Sociological abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: civil society, formal volunteering, Informal volunteering, Türkiye
  • Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Cross-cultural studies focusing on formal volunteering often underestimate and misinterpret the volunteering rates in non-Western countries like Türkiye. To address this gap, we conducted 22 focus group discussions to explore the perception of volunteering in Türkiye within the historical context of social and political culture and to provide insights into the prevalence of informal over formal volunteering. Our findings reveal that volunteering in Türkiye is perceived as a daily altruistic activity that does not need to be recorded. This perspective, informed by Islamic norms and traditional practices, is reinforced by the strong state tradition and distrust of civil society organizations (CSOs) rooted in the historical dynamics of civil society. We argue that the prevalence of informal volunteering in Türkiye depends on a socio-cultural perception of volunteering, which is underpinned by structural and institutional continuities that interact with ongoing transformations between civil society and the state, marked by Türkiye’s distinctive modernization experience.