Manufacturing citizens : the dichotomy between policy and practice in youth volunteering in the UK

Foucault’s governmentality framework perceives the policy process as one of steering citizens into uncontroversial behaviors. This article will argue that the call to create a ‘big society’ of volunteering and engagement in the UK is a natural extension of such governmental practices. Drawing on qualitative interviews with volunteering professionals in England, this article seeks to analyze the creation and implementation of youth volunteering policy and question to what extent such policies can be an effective tool through which to instill Britain’s youth with a sense of responsibility, or if indeed that is a deliverable aim. It is shown that social class divisions and the increasingly pressurized lives of young people hamper the take-up and effectiveness of volunteering policy. Instead, the article concludes that volunteering has been conceptualized and delivered as a pathway to employment, leaving increased responsibility as a nebulous concept in the lives of young volunteers.