A Social History of Student Volunteering

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Georgina Brewis

   Pages 1-11

3. A New Era in Social Service? Student Associational Culture and the Settlement Movement

   • Georgina Brewis

   Pages 13-34

4. Christian Internationalism, Social Study and the Universities Before 1914

   • Georgina Brewis

   Pages 35-50

5. The Student Chapter in Postwar Reconstruction, 1920–1926

   • Georgina Brewis

   Pages 51-65

6. No Longer the Privilege of the Well-to-Do? Student Culture, Strikes and Self-Help, 1926–1932

   • Georgina Brewis

   Pages 67-87

7. Digging with the Unemployed: The Rise of a Student Social Consciousness? 1932–1939

   • Georgina Brewis

   Pages 89-109

8. Students in Action: Students and Antifascist Relief Efforts, 1933–1939

   • Georgina Brewis

   Pages 111-133

9. The Students’ Contribution to Victory: Voluntary Work in the Second World War and After

   • Georgina Brewis

   Pages 135-153

10. Experiments in Living: Student Social Service and Social Action, 1950–1965

    • Georgina Brewis

    Pages 155-174

11. From Service to Action? Rethinking Student Voluntarism, 1965–1980

    • Georgina Brewis

    Pages 175-194

12. Conclusion: Students and Social Change, 1880–1980

    • Georgina Brewis

    Pages 195-199

13. Back Matter

    Pages 201-263

    PDF

Using a wide range of student testimony and oral history, Georgina Brewis sets in international, comparative context a one-hundred year history of student voluntarism and social action at UK colleges and universities, including such causes as relief for victims of fascism in the 1930s and international development in the 1960s.

• fascism
• Nation
• nationalism
• Privileg
• service
• social change
• social history
• university

“Georgina Brewis’s study of volunteering by students in the long twentieth century is a very welcome, timely and engaging addition to both the history of education and the history of voluntary action. … Brewis’s book provides rich insight into the evolution of student volunteering over a long twentieth century, and into the shifts in British history more broadly; it deserves to be read by a wide range of historians, not just those interested in education or social policy.” (Kate Bradley, The English Historical Journal, Vol. 131 (553), December, 2016)

“The book is clearly structured. The argument in each chapter is signposted with detailed headings and illustrated with well-chosen images. The book deserves to be widely read not only by historians of education and voluntary action but also by historians of politics and society in twentieth-century Britain. It willbe of particular interest to historians of activism, gender, social policy and transnationalism, who will find that student volunteering is pertinent to the study of each of these fields.” (David Ellis, Twentieth Century British History, March, 2016)

“This book is an important contribution to an emerging field focusing on students, the student experience and student actions. … Brewis has done an excellent job of searching out and using a variety of student sources and demonstrating how rich and useful they can be both for histories of students and for a wide variety of issues and phenomena across twentieth-century British history.” (Jodi Burkett, Cultural and Social History, February, 2016)

“Georgina Brewis’s lively and thorough exploration of student volunteering is a particularly fresh contribution to our understanding of the history of higher education in Britain, focusing as it does on a range of activities that students undertook alongside, but largely independent of,their formal studies. … This is a book that is full of new material and insights. … This is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of higher education and its wider social impact.” (John Field, History of Education, Vol. 45 (6), 2016)

“Georgina Brewis’ new book … makes an important contribution to the under-researched role of students in university history. … a highly detailed and engaging account of the hidden history of student volunteers and their activities in British universities. … Those interested in the history of women students will find A Social History of Student Volunteering a highly valuable text. … Brewis’ work is a perfect starting point from which cross-disciplinary work exploring student political and social engagement can be developed.” (Sarah Webster, Contemporary British History, Vol. 29 (4), 2015)

"Brewis' meticulous study of the history of student volunteering over a hundred-year period from the 1880s onwards does an awful lot todebunk the myth that the present day is an exceptional time for student volunteering. Focusing primarily, although not exclusively, on the experiences of student volunteering in the UK, the book explores different phases and practices of student volunteering and how this activity has developed in relationship to the expansion of higher education over the century. The book is structured chronologically and considers how different historical periods were associated with distinctive practices of student volunteering. The overarching theme of the book is that the history of student volunteering cannot be separated from the wider history of higher education, student experience and key social, political and economic events. The book will be of considerable interest to a range of scholars including historians of higher education and voluntarism but also to those working with student volunteers in the present day as it emphasises the need to locate student engagement within wider political and social debates and to understand how current practices are influenced by previous modes of engagement." - Voluntary Sector Review

"This book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the history of voluntary action or the history of higher education. Georgina Brewis' book provides us with a huge amount of detail and creates a much 'thicker' history and nuanced understanding of student voluntarism. Researchers in this ?eld will be able to mine it for a wide range of useful information and insights. A very worthwhile read." - Economic History Review

"Georgina Brewis' study of student volunteering is both illuminating and rich in detail. We move from university settlements in Edwardian slums to charity rags, to concern with unemployment and internationalism between the wars, and finally to the 'Ban the Bomb' and anti-apartheid protests of the fifties and sixties. This book brings together youthful idealism, social and political engagement, and the history of universities in an original and insightful way." - Carol Dyhouse, Research Professor of History, University of Sussex, UK

"Brewis' important new study of student action describes the social and political changes, notably the increased participation of women, which underlay different forms of engagement. From the settlement movement through the 'student popular front' of the thirties, to international activities in the post war period, she demonstrates a story of both change and continuities. It opens up fresh perspectives for the study of British higher education and deserves to be widely read." - Nicholas Deakin, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy, University of Birmingham, UK

"This is an important piece of scholarship which does what all good history should do it tells a good story and sheds light on issues of current interest and relevance. The book takes in some of the key political, social and economic episodes of the twentieth century and throughout there are some great vignettes and some unexpected revelations. Overall, an excellent study, well researched, well written, and with significant relevance for today." - Justin Davis Smith, National Council for Voluntary Organisations

Georgina Brewis is Senior Lecturer in the History of Education at UCL Institute of Education, University College London, UK.

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