Associative Work Between Volunteer Values and the Logic of Remuneration: A Sociological Approach to the Issue of Social Exclusion

Abstract

Associative work in Morocco has witnessed a shift from voluntary work to paid service; however, this transformation has affected the social character of associations, and the logic of profit and loss has replaced social considerations in various projects and decisions taken by actors. This contributed to the emergence of overt and hidden conflicts, resulting in the exclusion of one group and the dominance of another within the associative field, which is supposed to be a domain for socio-economic integration. Revealing the impact of the associative transformation from a social voluntary logic to paid service on the issue of social cohesion required the use of a qualitative methodology, based on participant observation and guided individual interviews for data collection, and content analysis to interpret the findings. Among the results yielded by the study is that the structural change affecting the association contributed to the proliferation of a large number of excluded wage earners.