Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T18:37:26.149Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Belonging at the zoo: retired volunteers, conservation activism and collective identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2009

JOHN FRASER ,
SUSAN CLAYTON ,
JESSICA SICKLER  and
ANTHONY TAYLOR
JOHN FRASER*
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA. Institute for Learning Innovation, Edgewater, Maryland, USA.
SUSAN CLAYTON
Affiliation:
Psychology, College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, USA.
JESSICA SICKLER
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA. Institute for Learning Innovation, Edgewater, Maryland, USA.
ANTHONY TAYLOR
Affiliation:
Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA. Psychology emeritus, State University of New York, Cortland, USA.
*
Address for correspondence:John Fraser, Institute for Learning Innovation, 3168 Braverton Street, Suite 280, Edgewater, MD 21037, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study affirms previous research findings that volunteering satisfies personal needs but goes further by considering the factor of collective identity for volunteers and its consequences for them. The study specifically focused on older volunteers working at zoos. In the initial phase at Central Park Zoo 30 volunteers completed a short self-completion questionnaire. The second phase involved one-on-one interviews with 21 Bronx Zoo volunteers with a collective self-esteem scale. The responses indicated that the volunteers considered the collective identity of zoo volunteer to be important to their self-concept and believed that this identity is held in high public esteem. The results also suggested that identity as a zoo volunteer not only satisfies personal needs, as found by other volunteer studies, but that the collective identity supports external activism based on shared values. It was concluded that the collective environmental identity facilitated by volunteer work at the zoos provides affirmational social support for the volunteers' work as environmental conservation advocates, and enhances their sense of purpose and self-efficacy.

Keywords

collective identityenvironmental identityconservation psychologyzoosvolunteersretirees
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 29 , Issue 3 , April 2009 , pp. 351 - 368
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashmore, R. D., Deaux, K. and McLaughlin-Volpe, T. 2004. An organizing framework for collective identity: articulation and significance of multidimensionality. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 1, 80–114.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brewer, M. B. 2001. The many faces of social identity: implications for political psychology. Political Psychology, 22, 1, 115–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charmaz, K. 2000. Grounded theory: objectivist and constructivist methods. In Denzin, N. K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (eds) Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage, London, 509–35.Google Scholar
Clayton, S. 2003. Environmental identity: a conceptual and an operational definition. In Clayton, S. and Opotow, S. (eds) Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 45–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, S. and Opotow, S. (eds) 2003. Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erikson, E. H. 1985. Childhood and Society. Norton, New York.Google Scholar
Erlinghagen, M. and Hank, K. 2006. The participation of older Europeans in volunteer work. Ageing & Society, 26, 4, 567–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fine, G. A. and Harrington, B. 2004. Tiny publics: small groups and civil society. Sociological Theory, 22, 3, 341–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaser, B. G. and Strauss, A. L. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Aldine de Gruyter, Hawthorne, New York.Google Scholar
Kellert, S. R. and Wilson, E. O. 1993. The Biophilia Hypothesis. Island Press, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Kempton, W. and Holland, D. C. 2003. Identity and sustained environmental practice. In Clayton, S. and Opotow, S. (eds) Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 317–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kidd, A. H. and Kidd, R. M. 1997. Characteristics and motivations of docents in wildlife education. Psychological Reports, 81, 2, 383–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyle, G., Graefe, A. and Manning, R. 2005. Testing the dimensionality of place attachment in recreational settings. Environment and Behavior, 37, 2, 153–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luhtanen, R. and Crocker, J. 1992. A collective self-esteem scale: self-evaluation of one's social identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 3, 302–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCracken, G. 1988. The Long Interview. Sage, Newbury Park, California.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, J. E., Arrow, H. and Berdahl, J. L. 2000. The study of groups: past, present, and future. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 1, 95–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGrath, J. E. and Tschan, F. 2004. Group Development and Change. American Psychological Association, Washington DC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narushima, M. 2005. ‘Payback time’: community volunteering among older adults as a transformative mechanism. Ageing & Society, 25, 4, 567–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okun, M. A., Barr, A. and Herzog, A. R. 1998. Motivation to volunteer by older adults: a test of competing measurement models. Psychology and Aging, 13, 4, 608–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Omoto, A. M. and Snyder, M. 2002. Considerations of community: the context and process of volunteerism. American Behavioral Scientist, 45, 5, 846–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opotow, S. and Brook, A. 2003. Identity and exclusion in rangeland conflict. In Clayton, S. and Opotow, S. (eds) Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 249–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Shea, E. 2006. An economic and social evaluation of the Senior Help Line in Ireland. Ageing & Society, 26, 2, 267–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patton, M. Q. 1990. Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. Sage, Newbury Park, California.Google Scholar
Piliavin, J. A., Grube, J. A. and Callero, P. L. 2002. Role as a resource for action in public service. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 3, 469–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piliavin, J. A. and Siegl, E. 2007. Health benefits of volunteering in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 48, 4, 450–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Proshansky, H. M., Fabian, A. K. and Kaminoff, R. 1983. Place identity. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 3, 1, 57–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Proshansky, H. M. 1978. The city and self-identity. Environment and Behavior, 10, 2, 147–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Sage, Thousand Oaks, California.Google Scholar
Weiss, R. S. 1994. Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. Free Press, New York.Google Scholar
Wuthnow, R. 1993. Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Zavestoski, S. 2003. Constructing and maintaining ecological identities: the strategies of deep ecologists. In Clayton, S. and Opotow, S. (eds) Identity and the Natural Environment: The Psychological Significance of Nature. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 297–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar