Sociology of Giving
Sociology of Giving

Author: Helmuth Berking

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 1999-03-30

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0857026135

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This book decodes the ambivalence of gift-giving. It examines its socio-ethical and integrative potential. Following a short recollection of contemporary gift-giving, its motives, occasions and its rules, the reader is invited to travel back in time and space examining ′sacrifice′, ′food-sharing′, and ′gift giving′ as those basic institutions upon which symbolic orders of ′traditional′ society rely. The historical invention of hospitality is considered and paves the way to an analysis of the anthropology of giving. Berking goes on to explore the transition from traditional society to the market, self interest form. He questions the view that our societies are dominated by individualism and explores the contemporary interplay between self interest and the common good.

The Paradox of Generosity
The Paradox of Generosity

Author: Christian Smith

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0199394903

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In The Paradox of Generosity, Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson offer vital insight into how American adults conceive of and demonstrate generosity. Focusing not only on financial giving but on the many diverse forms philanthropy can take, they show the impact--both positive and negative--that giving has on individuals.

Gift Giving
Gift Giving

Author: Cele Otnes

Publisher: Popular Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780879727055

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Gift Giving brings together 21 scholars from a variety of disciplines - including consumer behavior, communications, and sociology - who are dedicated to the understanding of what motivates gift selection, presentation, and incorporation of a gift into a person's life. The text explores the role of values in gift exchange; the influence of ethnic, generational, and subcultural differences in gift exchange; how gifts to the self are manifested; and new directions and topics in gift giving. In these essays, gift giving occasions are probed for the meanings that can be illuminated with respect to this pervasive, yet not always positive, phenomenon. For anyone interested in gift giving behavior, this volume should prove both enlightening and provocative.

Social Solidarity and the Gift
Social Solidarity and the Gift

Author: Aafke E. Komter

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 250

ISBN-13: 9780521600842

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This book brings together two traditions of thinking about social ties: sociological theory on sol idarity and anthropological theory on gift exchange. The purpose of the book is to explore how both theoretical traditions may complete and enrich each other, and how they may illuminate transformations in solidarity. The main argument, supported by empirical illustrations, is that a theory of solidarity should incorporate some of the core insights from anthropological gift theory. The book presents a theoretical model covering both positive and negative--selective and excluding--aspects and consequences of solidarity.

The Gift Relationship (Reissue)
The Gift Relationship (Reissue)

Author: Titmuss, Richard

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2019-09-01

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1447349601

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Richard Titmuss (1907-1973) was a pioneer in the field of social administration (now social policy). In this reissued classic, listed by the New York Times as one of the 10 most important books of the year when it was first published in 1970, he compares blood donation in the US and UK, contrasting the British system of reliance on voluntary donors to the American one in which the blood supply is in the hands of for-profit enterprises, concluding that a system based on altruism is both safer and more economically efficient. Titmuss’s argument about how altruism binds societies together has proved a powerful tool in the analysis of welfare provision. His analysis is even more topical now in an age of ever changing health care policy and at a time when health and welfare systems are under sustained attack from many quarters.

The Gift
The Gift

Author: Aafke E. Komter

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9789053561737

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What moves us to give gifts to other people? The Gift brings together perspectives on gift exchange and reciprocity from different social scientific disciplines. The first part of this book contains anthropological and sociological 'classics' on gift giving and reciprocity. In the second part the focus is on social psychological theories, and on empirical research on gift giving in Western society. Finally, the main concepts underlying gift exchange - reciprocity, self-interest and altruism - are discussed. Here, the focus is on fundamental assumptions about human nature. Altruism and self-interest turn out to be much more interwoven than we are inclined to think.

The Gift Economy
The Gift Economy

Author: David Cheal

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-07-03

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1317401336

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Until recently we have known more about gift giving practices in pre-industrial societies than about those of industrial western society. In this book, first published in 1988, David Cheal shows that the process of present giving and receiving is a vital element in contemporary social life, relevant to some of the most important theoretical traditions in sociology, particularly those of Durkheim and Weber, and to the social constructionism of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. This volume is the result of a major study of gift rituals carried out by David Cheal and his associates in which general themes are richly illustrated with details from individual case histories gathered during the research. It is highly significant that in western society women are more active gift givers than men and, while their voices explain how emotions and interests are interrelated within the gift economy, the author shows how that in turn is related to current theories about family, gender and religion.

Introduction to Sociology 2e
Introduction to Sociology 2e

Author: Nathan J. Keirns

Publisher:

Published: 2015-03-17

Total Pages: 513

ISBN-13: 9781938168413

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"This text is intended for a one-semester introductory course."--Page 1.