‘I’ve never met them or spoken to them’: governmentality in local youth volunteering policy

1. ‘I’ve never met them or spoken to them’:governmentality in local youth volunteering policy Jon Dean Centre for Philanthropy, University of Kent

2. Purpose of this paper • The second part of two papers aimed at exploring youth volunteering policy. • Part 1,Voluntary Action History Society Conference, July 2010 Governmentality and the history of youth volunteering policy • Part 2, NCVO/VSSN Research Conference, September 2010 How is this policy being enacted at a local level

3. Michel Foucault and Governmentality • Theory of how power has come to be used in the modern age • Power is not determined by borders, but by the strength of populations. • ‘govern-mentality’ • Guide populations into certain behaviours • ‘Responsibilization’ – encourage citizens to take ownership of their lives.

4. Research Method • Set of 15 qualitative interviews • 40 – 150 minutes in length • With staff working in the voluntary and statutory sectors. • Various ethnic and social backgrounds. • Varying lengths of service in the borough, but most for more than 10 years. • Summer 2010

5. Governmentality in Eastwood volunteering policy • Some limited examples of the process of governmentality came from interviewees • Environmental programmes to ‘responsibilize’ young people towards their areas • Aspirations to build a long-term strategy of youth involvement and altruism • Peer education: volunteering as a way to remove the statutory sector from some services.

6. Why a governmentality approach may not work in certain localities. • Lack of youth opportunities and points of contact • Local politics • Long memories • Inadequacy of local vteam

7. Moving forward • Further data analysis from Eastwood. • Another case study of the same format to be carried out in the South East of England. • Focus groups to be carried out in both areas with young volunteers to understand their relationships with different agencies. Thank you