TY - CHAP

T1 - The Welcomers

T2 - How volunteers frame their commitment for refugees

AU - Karakayali, Serhat

PY - 2018/10/18

Y1 - 2018/10/18

N2 - In Germany, the refugee crisis of 2015 mobilized millions of German citizens to volunteer for refugees. Overnight, a broad movement, different from previous forms of solidarity activism, emerged. Its focus on humanitarian help, integration measures and its lack of ideological coherence suggest that is not a social movement in the conventional sense. The paper argues, however, that this new volunteerism for refugees is a political movement of a different kind, as an analysis of survey data, semi-narrative interviews and group discussions with volunteers reveals. For the majority of volunteers, helping refugees is a symbolic form of political articulation, particularly against mobilization efforts from right wing extremists on the local level.

AB - In Germany, the refugee crisis of 2015 mobilized millions of German citizens to volunteer for refugees. Overnight, a broad movement, different from previous forms of solidarity activism, emerged. Its focus on humanitarian help, integration measures and its lack of ideological coherence suggest that is not a social movement in the conventional sense. The paper argues, however, that this new volunteerism for refugees is a political movement of a different kind, as an analysis of survey data, semi-narrative interviews and group discussions with volunteers reveals. For the majority of volunteers, helping refugees is a symbolic form of political articulation, particularly against mobilization efforts from right wing extremists on the local level.

KW - Sociology

KW - Germany

KW - Hegemony

KW - Volunteers

KW - Social movements

KW - political mobilization

KW - Right wing extremism

KW - left wing commitment

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063633000&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-92741-1_8

DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-92741-1_8

M3 - Contributions to collected editions/anthologies

AN - SCOPUS:85063633000

SN - 978-3-319-92740-4

SN - 978-3-030-06505-8

SP - 221

EP - 241

BT - Refugee Protection and Civil Society in Europe

A2 - Feischmidt, Margit

A2 - Pries, Ludger

A2 - Cantat, Celine

PB - Springer International Publishing AG

CY - Cham

ER -