This study investigates volunteering in a highly unequal society. It uses post-apartheid South Africa as
a case study: the enduring apartheid legacy has left deep divides between classes and races in the
country. The research asks if formal volunteering serves to enhance social cohesion or reinforces such
social divides. Logistic analysis is applied to the 2001 South African World Values Survey, to measure
the strength of the relationship between the likelihood to volunteer, and selected human, social and
cultural capital variables. The analysis shows that volunteering tends to align with existing social
divides. Individuals are more likely to volunteer if they are educated and affluent, supporting the
dominant status theory. Prejudice and not valuing sharing are also associated with a higher proclivity
for volunteering. Broadly, we find that the available evidence suggests that volunteering is associated
with bonding, rather than bridging, social capital. Although hardly uncontentious, broad-based support
for and involvement in religious volunteering suggest that religious communities and congregations
could in the future provide a bridge to help heal the rifts if links between such communities are
strengthened.