Community Service Work, Civic Engagement, and “Giving Back” to Society

Key Factors in Improving Interethnic Relationships and Achieving “Connectedness” in Ethnically Diverse Communities

Bibliographic Data

ID11956757
AuthorsAugust John Hoffman (0000-0001-7720-5221, Metropolitan State University, corresponding author), Julie Wallach (California State University, Northridge), Eduardo Sánchez (0000-0002-5320-8732, California State University, Northridge)
Year2010
Volume63
Issue4
Pages418-430
Publication date2010-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAustralian Social Work (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0312-407X • E-ISSN: 1447-0748
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0312407x.2010.508168
OpenAlexW1971372035
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited24

Recently, the topics of community service activity and civic engagement relative to psychosocial benefits have received considerable attention. The current study addresses the relationship between community service activities, interethnic attitudes and individual perceptions of the value, relevance and importance of community service activities. We hypothesized that as subjects (n=40) participated in a variety of community service related activities, their perception of the overall importance of community engagement and interethnic attitudes (i.e., reductions in ethnocentrism) would significantly increase. A paired-samples t test showed significant increases among topics addressing perceptions of the importance of community service work and improvements among interethnic attitudes (p<.007). Results of the study and suggestions for future research are offered

Business · Civic engagement · Community engagement · Ethnic group · Ethnically diverse · Ethnocentrism · Perception · Political science · Politics · Psychosocial · Public relations · Service (business · Social connectedness · Sociology · Test (biology · Value (mathematics · Community Health and Development · Psychology · Service-Learning and Community Engagement · Social Psychology · Youth Development and Social Support · Marketing

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub