Description
Book SynopsisWhy do Peace Corps volunteers often return having lost their idealism? In
The Death of Idealism, Meghan Elizabeth Kallman details the combination of social forces and organizational pressures that depoliticizes Peace Corps volunteers, channels their idealism toward professionalization, and leads to cynicism or disengagement.
Trade ReviewWith no places to discuss their potentially life-changing experiences with fellow volunteers, and with many rules to follow and forms to fill out, volunteers in the Peace Corps often encounter an organizational void where their political imaginations and hopes might have bloomed.
The Death of Idealism confronts the consequences of this void, and makes important contributions to theories of organizations, the history of American volunteering, and the history of the Peace Corps in particular. -- Nina Eliasoph, author of
Making Volunteers: Civic Life After Welfare's EndProfessionalization is typically seen as universally good in the worlds of government, nonprofit, and development organizations. Meghan Elizabeth Kallman shows in her insightful study of the U.S. Peace Corps how it can kill idealism and lead to the failure of development. This is a must-read for anyone interested in public service and civic engagement. -- Angela M. Eikenberry, coeditor of
Reframing Nonprofit Organizations: Democracy, Inclusion, and Social ChangeA fascinating account of the conflict between professionalization and idealism in the Peace Corps. Kallman presents an important lesson in how organizational practices affect people’s ideas and values in ways that have long lasting consequences for their lives, professional careers, and, in this case, the trajectory of international development practice in the United States. -- Jennifer E. Mosley, coeditor of
Human Service Organizations and the Question of ImpactIs a must-read for all those who have a keen interest in international development and fighting poverty since the two are interdisciplinary in the contemporary world. * Voluntas *
This strong critique of the program is also a powerful endorsement of the critical ways that volunteering, in this program and more generally, can shape individuals and their lives. * American Journal of Sociology *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Peace Corps and Its Volunteers
2. The Development of Development: The Peace Corps and USAID
3. Ethical and Procedural Professionalization Among Peace Corps Staff
4. Volunteers in the Field
5. Home Again: Political, Civic, and Occupational Consequences of Volunteering
Conclusion
Appendix: Book Methodology
Notes
Index
