Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Understanding Volunteerism : An Exploratory Study Of The Theory Of The Commons, Richard L. Fey

Dissertations and Theses

Volunteerism in the United States has a history dating back to this countries origin. This form of giving originated out of the Great Awakening in the early 17th century. Previous studies on the nature of volunteering have had many different disciplines of research attempting to explain why organizations and individuals spend time in civic service.

In 1992, Roger A. Lohmann wrote The Commons as an attempt to create a bridge between the varying theoretical perspectives on volunteerism. Lohmann suggested that the reason for so many different theoretical approaches is largely due to divisions along disciplinary lines, rather than a practical …