Those Decent Fellows! Social Capital and Young Adult Volunteers

The main purpose of this essay is to determine whether organized voluntary activity is always equated with social capital by evaluating the results of the research work entitled “YoungAdults, the Family and Pro-social Behavior: A Study of the Organized Volunteer.” The author also reflects on whether or not the young adults who voluntarily do such work are good fellows outside of that context (for example in their family life) and outside of the narrow sphere of their professional commitments (for example in society at large). For this reason, the author’s analysis is not confined to the voluntary activities of the young people but seeks to explore other dimensions of the issue. For the author, the research objectives of this paper can be achieved only by examining the familial, friendly and romantic relationships of the young people, along with their values and moral viewpoints.