Professor of sociology at Paris-Sorbonne University and author of Give… A story of altruism (PUF, 2016), Philippe Steiner returns to the place of the gift in exchanges.
Whether it’s money, time or things, why do we give these days?
Two types of argument emerge from surveys of donors: solidarity – “if I were in need, I would like to be helped” – and reciprocity – “I received, therefore I am in debt and I return”. . The motivations can be related to religion, neighborhood or family ties. Thus, we give first to those who are similar to us, because they share the same worship, live in the same place or have the same ancestry as us.
However, there is no longer necessarily any contact between donor and beneficiary. Isn’t the gift becoming more and more abstract and impersonal?
There is indeed more and more a dual practice of giving in our contemporary societies. In addition to interpersonal gifts, which range from a courtesy gift, such as a cake that one brings to a dinner party, to the material assistance provided to those around him, organizational gifts, that is to say, which pass through one or more several organizations, are becoming more and more significant. Organ donation provides a good example: we will never know who gave and who received, it is the law.
Another textbook case is the Fondation de France, which redistributes the sums collected to the foundations it hosts. If the organizational donation is therefore anonymous, these intermediaries nevertheless help us to become aware of our common humanity. This manifests itself during the surges of generosity that follow major disasters such as the tsunami in Southeast Asia (2004) or the war in Ukraine. We will probably never go to the disaster sites, we don’t know the people who will benefit from our help, and yet we suffer from a distance, and we are united from a distance.
You underline in your “History of altruism” that this notion is opposed to selfishness, but not to market exchange. What does that mean ?
From the point of view of sociology, the gift is not without compensation: it entails a counter-gift. Solidarity therefore produces exchanges, including trade. In this respect, organizational donations have a multiplier effect: the 500 euros sent to an NGO will be used up to 90% to pay salaries, transport, buy food… A donation will generate a multitude of commercial exchanges which will lead to a donation. Hence an intertwining between altruism and exchange.
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