Civil society’s impact on quality of life

Bibliographic Data

ID21189553
AuthorsBjarne Ibsen (0000-0003-4326-4252, University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author), Karsten Elmose-Østerlund (0000-0002-9335-5585, University of Southern Denmark), Evald Bundgård Iversen (0000-0003-0430-0601, University of Southern Denmark), Evald Bundgaard Iversen (University of Southern Denmark), Jens Høyer-Kruse (0000-0002-0150-613X, University of Southern Denmark), Marlene Rosager Lund Pedersen (0000-0002-1988-9597, University of Southern Denmark)
Year2021
Volume17
Issue3-4
Pages345-363
Publication date2021-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Civil Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1744-8689 • E-ISSN: 1744-8697
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17448689.2021.2018806
OpenAlexW4205588302
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited38

The purpose of the article is to analyse the impact of three forms of involvement in organized civil society – as ‘participant’, as ‘member’ and as ‘volunteer’ – on self-assessed quality of life when checking for coherence between the three forms of participation. The article is inspired by both Lim and Putnam’s claim that close social networks around meaningful and identity-bearing activities increase self-assessed quality of life and Stebbins’ claim that life satisfaction is an essential by-product of ‘serious leisure’. This article utilizes data from a digital survey study conducted among adult citizens in Denmark, which 2514 citizens answered. The questionnaire contained a broad range of questions regarding participation in leisure activities, membership in associations, engagement in voluntary work, subjective life-satisfaction, self-assessed health and social background of the respondents. The statistical regression analysis shows a correlation between volunteering in general and self-assessed quality of life, but the correlation is relatively weak. However, the analysis does not show a significant correlation between the quality of life and membership in an association and participation in ‘serious leisure’. Of the other variables included, self-assessed health, in particular, contributes to explaining the variation in the self-assessed quality of life

Civil society · Environmental ethics · Political science · Politics · Employment and Welfare Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Law · Philosophy · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Public Administration