Secular and religious volunteering among immigrants and natives in Denmark

Abstract

In the last decades, Western societies have witnessed large scale migration from the Global South. This large-scale migration has brought about important challenges in securing the social, civic, and political integration of non-Western immigrants into Western societies. The previous research suggests that participation in volunteering within civil society can serve as a 'stepping stone' towards integration for immigrants. However, the previous research has shown marked gaps in the propensity to participate in volunteering between immigrants and natives, but little work has been done to identify the mechanisms that explain these gaps. In this study, I use high-quality survey data that are linked with data from administrative registers, to which I apply logistic regression based on the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method to conduct mediation analysis. The mediation analysis shows that non-Western immigrants are significantly less likely to participate in secular volunteering compared to natives; however, over half of this gap is explained by an indirect effect via socioeconomic status, self-rated health, generalized trust, informal social networks, and the intergenerational transmission of volunteering. Moreover, the mediation analysis suggests that non-Western immigrants are more likely to participate in religious volunteering; however, this gap is completely explained by a strong indirect effect via religiosity.

Immigrant Integration Through Volunteering: The Importance of Contextual Factors

“…Similar to findings in other countries (e.g., Carabain and Bekkers, 2011 in the Netherlands; Osili and Xie, 2009, in the US; Qvist, 2017, in Denmark; Voicu, 2014), our study first confirmed that immigrants in Germany engage less in volunteering than native-born individuals. This finding is particularly robust in our analysis given the use of a propensity score-matched sample.…”

Are immigrant youth involved in voluntary organizations more likely than their non-immigrant peers to be engaged in politics? Survey evidence from Norway

“…Research shows that Norwegian adults of Asian or African immigrant backgrounds are less likely to participate in political elections (Bergh, 2016; Bergh et al, 2014) or voluntary organizations (Eimhjellen and Segaard, 2010; Wollebæk and Sivesind, 2010) than the general population. A similar pattern is evident in other Nordic countries (Bhatti et al, 2014; Qvist, 2018; Svedberg et al, 2010).…”

“…Citizens of immigrant descent constitute a growing share of the populations in most western democracies, thereby increasing their political significance. Compared to the majority population, however, immigrants coming from Asia and Africa, in particular, are less likely to engage in politics (Bergh et al, 2014; Bhatti et al, 2014; Heath and Khan, 2012; Qvist, 2018; Svedberg et al, 2010). As far back as the 1960s, empirical studies have shown that members of voluntary associations are more politically active and interested than non-members (Almond and Verba, 1989).…”

“…Lacking childhood experiences from the host country, many immigrant parents will have a disadvantage, will be less familiar with the political system and organizational landscape and, therefore, less likely to pass on behaviours that encourage political and associational participation (Eimhjellen et al, 2018; Voicu, 2014; Ødegård et al, 2014). In addition, the lack of strong and significant social networks among immigrants has been deemed a substantial barrier to involvement in secular volunteering (Qvist, 2018). In a nationally representative longitudinal survey of adolescents in the US, Humphries et al (2013) argued that traditional models of adolescent political socialization may not accurately describe the experiences and diversity of children of immigrants.…”

Living in poverty, living with poverty: the community workers’ conceptions on child poverty in Greece

“…Its aim was to examine their views on the way children in Greece experience the consequences of the economic downturn and the degradation of their well-being. The participants of this study were involved in "religious volunteering" as they were all taking part in the organization of the parish soup kitchens and linked their participation with religious norms and values (Qvist, 2017). This study was based on the assumption that one can only indirectly approach the way the children perceive the impact of the crisis on their lives in the Greek family welfare model.…”