Volunteerism vs. Activism: What is the Difference?

Volunteerism vs. Activism. We must ask ourselves “What is the difference?” Is helping at a soup kitchen an act of volunteerism or is it activism against hunger? There are no real answers, only ideas. As we well know, ideas vary from person to person.

Who comes to mind when you think of an activist? For most people it is someone heroic with saint-like qualities. They are perfect people who fight for a perfect cause, they way it should be fought for. But you see, in reality that entire idea falls apart the moment you mention people. There is no such thing as a “perfect person”, we humans are all beautifully imperfect. As was said in “Soul of a Citizen” active citizens, or ‘activists” are “persons of imperfect character, acting on the basis of imperfect knowledge, for causes that may be imperfect as well.” In addition, activism is viewed as a full time life style that consumes the activist.

Volunteerism on the other hand is something done by us “imperfect” citizens in an attempt to make ourselves feel like we are making a difference while devoting as little time as we can. I, however, believe that in some ways volunteerism can inspire change, even on a small level. For example, the shed I helped build for the food bank during Service Week will not end World Hunger, but it may make it possible for the garden to expand and help more people locally. I support volunteers, they are a good start to fixing a problem, but to truly change the people must go deeper.

I really love using the iceberg model as much as possible, because it fits so well with many issues. It is my understanding that volunteering is only addressing the issues we see at the surface, for example people are hungry. But activism goes to the roots of a problem and notices the injustice in the workplace that is creating these peoples hunger. Volunteers are very important, but to really resolve an issue we must have much more going on than simply volunteer work.