Conceptualising employment and volunteering as two distinct forms of social inclusion, Susanne Strauß analyses their interrelations in Germany and Great Britain. On the basis of household panel data, she answers questions such as: Does job loss lead people to give up their volunteer work? Or do people who have lost their job keep up their volunteering activities to use them as an alternative source of social recognition? Does volunteering help with finding a new job? By comparing the situation in two different countries, the author stresses that differences in labour market institutions lead to distinct answers. Moreover, the study points to variations with respect to gender, education and the type of volunteering organizations.

Dr. Susanne Strauß holds a doctoral degree from the Graduate School of Social Sciences (GSSS) at the University of Bremen, Germany. She is an assistent professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Tübingen, Germany.