A New Field of Research in Turkish Sociology: Volunteering

Abstract

This article aims at looking for answers for two main questions on volunteering that was recently emerged as a new field of research in Turkish Sociology. 1) How has the literature on volunteering been constructed in Turkey since 1990's? 2) How suitable is the recently constructed discourse on volunteering for the reality of Turkey? Based on those two questions, the article proposes and defends two main arguments: 1) the present literature on volunteering, which lacks authenticity in terms of both theory and methods, has been constructed on the basis of Western conceptualizations and concerns. 2) As it is, the present literature suffers from the lack of ability to comprehend and reflect the reality of volunteering in Turkey. Thus, as a contribution to the present literature, this article offers and tries to articulate, for the first time, the concept of unregistered volunteering to refer to the type of volunteering that is dominant among religious communities and sects in Turkey and that is largely ignored by researchers of volunteering.