Reviews

Service Without Guns
Donald J. Eberly and Reuven Gal
Lulu, 2006

Service Without Guns by Donald J. Eberly and Reuven Gal, with a guest chapter by Michael Sherraden, is a thoughtful and timely contribution to the discussion of the role that civilian service can play in a world in which military activities and war have been at the forefront of many people’s lives on a daily basis. The book explores the benefits and impacts of a relatively new form of service known as National Youth Service (NYS). The authors, both of whom are keen advocates of non-military service, present an examination of civic service and NYS programmes in various countries and explore their outcomes on several different levels – educational, social and psychological. They conclude that given the substantial benefits of NYS, it should become as important in the 2 st century as military service was in the 20th century.

The book is divided into four parts. The first is concerned with the inter-relationship of military service and civic service. Part II explores the basic features of NYS. Part III deals with the impact of NYS, while the final part considers the role it can play in the future.

In part I, chapters and 2 explore the links between military and civic service in the 20th century. The authors note that although these enterprises have different purposes, historically the dividing line between military and civic service has never been clear-cut. Both types of service generate similar beneficial outcomes, particularly in the area of teamwork and uniting young people from different backgrounds in a common cause.

In part II, Chapters 3 and 4 look at the various ways in which NYS has steadily expanded internationally in tandem with a fundamental change in the perception and nature of volunteer service. In non-Western countries, volunteering was seen as an obligation of members of an extended family, and in the West it was regarded as the obligation of the rich to be generous to those in need. In recent decades, however, the definition of volunteer service has expanded beyond these boundaries to include NYS schemes and the authors present an array of various successful youth service programmes which have operated in different parts of the world. Although they acknowledge that there is no commonly accepted purpose of NYS and that different countries assign programmes with different aims and objectives, all successful programmes share essential features of best practice. Some of these best practices include: the delivery of needed services; appropriate orientation and training; appropriate duration of service; the availability of positive opportunities for NYS cadets after the completion of their programme; and opportunities for reflection on the service experience.

The opportunities for reflection are expanded in Chapter 5, which looks specifically at the educational dimension of non-military service. As Eberly and Gal assert, all serviceproviders learn from their experiences and this can be enhanced by incorporating the principles of service-learning into NYS programmes. Service-learning, which is a form of experiential education where students combine their academic study with practical experience of working in community placements, and NYS are closely related initiatives and the authors emphasise the importance of providing well-designed educational programmes. Examples of service-learning, its benefits and a programme model, which includes a learning framework for the service experience, are presented. Chapter 6, meanwhile, concentrates on a range of psychological and social aspects of the impact of voluntary youth service and notes that there are a number of similar outcomes between voluntary and military service.

In Part III, Chapter 7 looks at the multiple and positive service impacts of NYS schemes and the authors provide brief reports of programmes which have successfully operated from various countries across the world. For Michael Sherraden, the guest contributor of Chapter 8, the multiple benefits of well-run NYS programmes suggest that youth service should be properly seen as a major or “strong policy” which is worthy of both public and legislative support. He notes, however, that because the current base of theory and empirical research to support youth service is weak, a much more convincing and thorough body of evidence is needed before NYS can fundamentally guide policy innovation. Sherraden offers various suggestions for how a knowledge base for youth service can be built and specifies what strong policy is from the perspective of the applied social sciences.

Finally, chapters 9 and 0 in Part IV consider the future roles that NYS can play in reconstructing communities that have been torn apart by war and disaster as well suggesting a number of practical ways in which youth service can be developed and advanced so that it becomes a common experience of young people around the world. The concluding chapter summarises the positive outcomes of NYS programmes and ultimately envisages an era when military conflict and military service may be replaced to a significant extent by youth service.

In summary, Service Without Guns has been written with the overall aim of channelling the service of young people towards meeting basic human needs rather than taking up arms and engaging in military combat. It is essentially a practical, “how to do it” book and the information it contains is underwritten and guided by the extensive experiences and observations of the authors. It is this feature that makes it a useful and helpful guide for anyone thinking about implementing a youth service programme. Reviewed by

Jennifer Iles
Senior Lecturer and Programme Convenor, Masters in International Service

 

Studying Local Churches
Edited by: Helen Cameron, Douglas Davies,
Philip Richter, Frances Ward
SCM Press, 2006

With the recent policy interest in the role of faith communities working in partnership with statutory agencies, and the recognition in many places of the inclusion of religious organizations within the Third Sector, this volume is a timely contribution to the literature. It serves as a much needed introduction to congregational studies in the British context, where the theme has been neglected for decades. Though it is restricted in its scope to mainstream Christianity it would I think be possible to draw useful insights for the congregational life of other faiths. It is a considerable achievement to have drawn together contributions from so many different sources, including some who are practitioners in Christian ministry, and academics from sociology, anthropology, theology and voluntary sector organizational studies.

While all of these strands do provide valuable insights in the field the diversity within the volume inevitably produces a lack of coherence if the text is approached as a book, and one attempts to read it from end to end. On the other hand that perhaps reflects postmodern church and community life anyway. I can’t help thinking that such an approach cries out for presentation as hypertext, via a web site or multimedia CD and study pack. The authors have thought of that and there is a web site (for which one needs to register) at http://www.scmpress.co.uk/Xtradata/3986.asp which is not the URL given on page xvi of the book. While there are a few useful sections of additional material that obviously could not be squeezed into the book, I have to say I found the online content of disappointing in that it does not make enough use of the vast amount of useful practical material for Christian ministry that is now on the web and could have been easily linked.

The other problem for me is that of market or potential readership. Most of the book is written with academic assumptions about rigor (mortis?) of study and disciplinary frameworks. Undoubtedly it will be useful for students in a variety of disciplines who have a dissertation to complete and think that a local church would provide a good context or topic for their work. I can also see some Christian ministers who have as an answer to prayer, or as a reward for good works, managed to carve out some sabbatical time for study, or even are naturally inclined to be reflective practitioners. However I suspect most clergy, overwhelmed with the managerial, pastoral, evangelistic, spiritual, multi-tasking burdens of running a church, whether it is a thriving or declining cause, will not have time to consult the book. And for lay leaders and ordinary members of congregations themselves, particularly the urban ones in which I tend to work, books like this can be alienating by their very nature, rather than providing solutions to local problems. And so though the book contains many useful ideas and techniques, lots of interesting stories and case studies, these can only be of use when the word becomes flesh, and skilled and sensitive human facilitators lead Christian people on a reflective journey through a changing spiritual and social landscape, helping the congregations to adapt themselves for a more appropriate and effective role. Knowing most of the authors personally, I am sure they realize this to be the case. However, in choosing the medium they have, I am not convinced they have communicated to the churches as well as they might have done.

Reviewed by Greg Smith

 

Researching voluntary and community
action
Duncan Scott and Lynne Russell
University of Manchester, 2005

‘Close Work’: Doing qualitative research
in the voluntary sector
Pete Alcock and Duncan Scott (Eds.)
Charities Aid Foundation, 2005

Developing research which can be seen to contribute to working in communities and voluntary organisations sets distinctive challenges. Can such research be both accessible and rigorous? How can it promote mutual rather than one-sided understanding in its processes and findings? Does research become less authoritative if seen to be closely engaged with the concerns of the people and places researched? Running through both these publications is a wealth of argument and evidence that community-based research which promotes real and useful understanding of action should be placed firmly in the context which informs action. Particularly valuable in both books, is the breadth and depth of experience used to set lessons in the context of many settings, amply illustrated.

An important argument, strongly developed in Scott and Russell’s (2005) report on the uses of case studies in community action, is their particular suitability for providing research findings which can be recognised as drawn from and having resonance for practice. However, while highlighting how recognisability may help make research accessible, they rightly caution against case study approaches which provide only limited pictures lacking context and depth of detail. Such over-simplified pictures, they suggest, can undermine understandings and real-life applicability. They maintain that well-focused arguments and examples should not have to tidy away every loose end for research to be convincing. Rather, they vividly convey how research approaches and planning can take account of the often-messy dilemmas encountered while working and researching in voluntary settings. While often never fully resolvable, attending to such dilemmas can provide a fertile basis for informed negotiations and critical reflection.

Their report begins with a critical overview of case studies, distinguishing clearly between the merits and limitations of a range of different approaches. Although they underline that this is in no way a “methods” textbook, the sequence of chapters helpfully consider, in turn issues in constructing case studies, the impact of values and power on this, and then their uses in policy and practice. The reader is continuously reminded of how circumstances, relationships and the unexpected can transform the researchers’ awareness of what may be relevant in different settings. Scott and Russell suggest how details from that process of realising, can be deployed to share insights on how knowledge can be transformed in practice. A sense of the challenges entailed is sustained by extensive use of examples from their own and others’ case materials from a broad cross-section of types of voluntary agencies, community settings and networks. These are consistently-informed by awareness that differences and inequalities in values and power must be actively re-considered at every stage in decision-making, data collection and the production of findings, to underpin any (provisional) trust in researchers and the products of research.

While Scott and Russell focus wholly on case study research, their report very much complements the edited collection from Alcock and Scott (2005). This offers an array of insights from a multiplicity of voluntary sector qualitative research methods, again made accessible through contributor experiences. These points up welcome lessons about the richer understandings - and perhaps more nuanced negotiations - that wellconducted “closer” involvement of research with action settings can bring for voluntary groups and policymakers as well as students. The collection highlights how many qualitative approaches are now on offer, and which challenge assumptions either about “real research” or the practical politics of working in voluntary agencies and settings. Halfpenny’s early commentary critiques too-easy judgements about differences between and advantages of quantitative and quantitative methods which should be first examined in terms of what is specifically needed to answer specific questions.

Within this variety of approaches, a common thread drawn is that qualitative “close working” in voluntary settings will be seen to impose context-specific obligations which shape researcher roles, and the construction and reporting of findings. Obligations are shown to raise ethical dilemmas, negotiations around gender and cultures and issues around the voice and place of volunteer, user and staff participants in research. Settings and projects include Welsh rural development (Ellis), critical auto-ethnography in community-based emancipatory research (Ledwith), a historical case study of the Birmingham Settlement (Glasby and Manthorpe), action research with service users (Robson) and an action research evaluation of Regional Action West Midlands (Alcock). Useful critical commentaries underline the risks as well as opportunities from collaboration in research, for revealing differences in perspectives and sensitive observations. They identify consequent compromises in access, dialogues and reporting that may then be needed. These are well-drawn in Russell and Scott’s contribution from their study of the impact of contract culture on organisations and in Rochester’s social analysis study of collaboration between several AIDS/HIV support organisations.

Both publications “walk the talk” in not just stating but showing how closer researching relationships can bring fresh and trust-worthy insights into voluntary and community action. They should encourage practitioners, policymakers and students to explore qualitative research methods and findings to “widen and deepen” understandings of voluntary and community action.

Reviewed by Fiona Poland
University of East Anglia