Newsletter of the Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity Section-in-Formation of the American Sociological Association Volume 2, Issue 2 December 2010 Introducing the Concept of Social Courage Gerd Meyer — University of Tuebingen, Germany We all know situations in everyday life in which courage is sought to stand up for important per- sonal and social values, to protect oneself, and to act on behalf of others: 1) Violence is threatening or used, or we meet other form of aggressiveness like mobbing/bullying or sexual harassment. 2) We are witnesses of more or less open racist, xenophobic or sexist remarks or of some form of nationalist chauvinism.3) We stand alone with our opinion against a majority in a relevant group or hierarchy, in formal or informal meet- ings, and there is no compromise in sight. Continued on page 20... Our Two Important Projects Inside this Vincent Jeffries, Acting Chairperson – Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity Issue: As individuals, and as a section, we have two important projects for 2011. One is crucially important, immensely difficult, and will transcend the life Join Us 2 span of all of us as it moves from potentiality to increasingly fuller actualization. Misson Statement 3 The second is also crucial, relatively easy to accomplish with sufficient collec- tive effort, and must be concluded this year. Samuel P. Oliner 5, 58 The first and most fundamental project is to define and develop the intel- Paula England 6 lectual content of our section, and establish… Continued on page 4 ... Generosity 8 Solidarity, Altruism and Slavophils and Westernizers Initiative Genocide: A contribution to the on Sobornost, Altruism and Marta Rey 9 section on Morality, Altruism Solidarity (Middle 19th – Early Books of Interest 11 and Social Solidarity. Helen Fein— 20th Century) Dmitry Efremenko Pavel Krotov 14 Institute for the Study of Genocide— & Yaroslava Evseeva — Institute of Belfer Center for Science and Scientific Information for Social McPherson & Firat 38 International Affairs, Kennedy School of Sciences, Russian Academy of Government Sciences For many years, I have viewed The contribution to studies of sociology as a lens to explore the origins social solidarity by Russian left-wing of collective evil and collective good. thinkers of the middle 19th – early How this fits in my biography is best 20th century is widely recognized in detailed in a chapter, ―From Social Ac- today‘s world (our article published tion to Social Theory and Back: Paths in the previous issue of the Newslet- and Circles: in Pioneers of Genocide ter was devoted to the topic). Studies... Continued on page 7 ... Continued on page 34... M.M. Kovalevsky Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 1 JOIN AN IMPORTANT NEW ASA SECTION A section on "Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity" is in formation. Please consider joining us to participate in the activities and to work toward realizing the goals set forth in our Mission State- ment. How To Join: So far we have 187 mem- Visit Our Section Homepage bers, but we still need you The ASA website is Copies of the Section Newslet- to join our section before www.asanet.org. From there September 30, 2011 or we ter and other documents are go to "Membership Informa- tion," then "Join or Renew," won’t be recognized by available on our Homepage: and finally "Join a Section." ASA! Please take a moment We are on the list of sections: http://www.csun.edu/ and follow the instructions "Altruism, Morality and So- cial Solidarity (47)." Check to in the “How to Join” box to ~hbsoc126/. join the section, then go the left. Thank you! "Payment," which is only $5. Mark Your Calendars! Session for 2011 American Sociological Association Meetings In Las Vegas Current Perspectives on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity Topic Index: altruism, morality, and and social solidarity Resp: Elizabeth Armstrong Organizer and Presider: Vincent Jeffries, California State University, Northridge Papers in this session examine current research and theoretical development in the study of altruism, moral- ity, and social solidarity. In the most general sense, this subject matter consists of intentions and actions to benefit the welfare of others. Examples are generosity, benevolence, philanthropy, intergroup cooperation, and universalizing solidarity. The subject matter also consists of ideas about good and evil and right and wrong. Both these interrelated phenomena span the micro-macro continuum, ranging from individuals, to forms and norms of interaction, to organizations and their normative cultures, and to the global social and cultural systems. This session introduces the study of altruism, morality, and social solidarity as a distinct field of sociological practice. The comprehensive nature and diversity of the field is reflected in the papers. Confirmed Presenters: Civil and Uncivil Solidarities. Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University. Beyond Self-Interest and Altruism: Care as Mutual Nourishment. Paul G. Schervish, Boston College. Russian Solidarism: Past and Present. Dmitry Efremenko, Institute for Scientific Information on Social Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences. Cultural Models and Altruism. Stephen Vaisey, University of California, Berkeley. Empirical Research on Altruism and Generosity. Christian Smith, University of Notre Dame. Discussant: Edward A. Tiryakian, Duke University. Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 2 MISSION STATEMENT Sociologists have long been concerned with how to build the good society. The section on altruism, morality, and social solidarity directly addresses this question. In the broadest sense, the subject matter of altruism and social solidarity consists of activities in- tended to benefit the welfare of others. These activities span the micro-macro continuum, from individ- ual,to interpersonal, to organizational, to global. They include phenomena such as generosity, forgiveness, unlimited love, virtue, philanthropy, intergroup cooperation, and universalizing solidarity. The subject matter of morality entails distinctions between good and evil, and between right and wrong. Such distinc- tions are an important aspect of each person's thoughts, actions, and moral judgments. They are also a component of all cultural systems, providing meanings that define for each collective some sense of the desirable and the undesirable. Norms regarding individual and intergroup relations are a part of these cul- tural systems. As a result, altruism and social solidarity are inevitably related to moral culture. This foundational subject matter includes several general areas of theoretical development and em- pirical research. The first area is understanding the nature and variability of these phenomena, their forms and processes, and their anticipated and unanticipated consequences, at all levels of analysis. The second area is exploring the relationships that exist between altruism, social solidarity, and morality. This includes investigating the conditions under which cultural systems of morality vary, from mandating behavior harmful to others, to restricting concern for others to particular groups, to promoting a universalizing soli- darity that potentially includes all persons and groups. The third area is the relationship between altruism, morality, and social solidarity and other sociocultural phenomena, such as the unequal distribution of power/authority and resources, the characteristics of social structures and of cultural systems, and the in- fluence of different social institutions. The intrinsic scientific, policy, and public relevance of this field of investigation in helping to con- struct "good societies" is unquestionable. The subject matter of the section gives scholars a unique oppor- tunity to contribute to understanding the conditions necessary for a broad vision of the common good that includes all individuals and collectives. Section activities are directed towards establishing the study of altruism, morality, and social soli- darity as a recognized field of theoretical development and empirical research within the discipline of soci- ology. These activities include the following: providing for regular exchanges of information through the section Newsletter and the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association; formally recogniz- ing outstanding theoretical, empirical, and applied work in the field of altruism, morality, and social soli- darity through annual awards; and linking with other scientific groups working on genetic, psychological, and cultural aspects of these phenomena. In doing so, we seek to develop and augment a community of scholars motivated to gain greater knowledge and understanding of altruism, morality, and social solidarity. We emphasize the importance of the investigation of the policy implications of this knowledge, and the dissemination of information to pub- lics regarding aspects of altruism, morality, and social solidarity that will benefit individual lives, the so- cial organization of society, and the prevailing culture. Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 3 Our Two Important Projects (continued from page 1...) ...it as a coherent and viable field within the discipline of sociology. Since the last edition of the Newslet- ter, the scope of our section has been expanded to include the study of morality. Therefore, our focus is now altruism, morality, and social solidarity. On the one hand, our practice of sociology is directed to- ward the study of actions and policies intended to benefit the welfare of others. On the other hand, this practice is also directed towards ideas of good and evil, and right and wrong. Both of these phenomena span the continuum from micro to macro. They are also inevitably interrelated. Our revised Mission State- ment, which is in this Newsletter, identifies three major areas of theoretical development and research within this more comprehensive perspective. Surely, it is correct to say that our subject matter is among the most important sociologically. If we increase knowledge and understanding of altruism, morality, and social solidarity, and determine how this can be applied in techniques of transformation, we can make a major contribution to the lives of individuals and to the general society. The second project is to change our status from section-in-formation to that of established section. This project is crucial primarily because its success can be viewed as a necessary condition for the con- tinued progress of efforts to meet the challenge of establishing our field within the discipline. The formi- dable intellectual task of defining and developing a tradition of thought will be greatly facilitated by at- taining the status of an established section within the American Sociological Association. This will give us a stable organizational base to develop an active and creative community of dedicated scholars. When we become a section, a rewarding vista of opportunities will open for us. We will be able to hold periodic elections to elect a slate of section officers: chairperson, council members, and graduate stu- dent representatives. We will also be able to give awards for outstanding scholarship that will be formally recognized by the Ammerican Sociological Association: for example, career awards, book and article awards, and graduate student awards. Once we have advanced the section in this manner, we can turn our attention fully to our most fundamental task of scholarly work and its dissemination. We can also con- sider projects such as forming a Research Committee within the International Sociological Association, applying for grants for special conferences on altruism, morality, and social solidarity, and transforming our Newsletter into a regularly published journal. These are all exciting and worthwhile projects. However, we must at this moment put first things first! To move from a section-in-formation to an established section we need to reach 300 members. Be aware and be certain: this is the end of the line! If we do not reach 300 members this year our section will be discontinued. We will lose our organiza- tional status within the American Sociological Association. The task of developing and establishing the study of altruism, morality, and social solidarity within the discipline will become considerably more dif- ficult. So please consider this article as the announcement of the beginning of what needs to be a vigor- ous, concerted, and continuous campaign to recruit new members to our section. Timing is very impor- tant in this regard. We simply cannot expect to make a grand finish in September to reach our goal of 300 members. We need to begin now, and attempt to reach our goal by the middle of May, when the spring semester ends at most universities. Continue on next page... Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 4 Our Two Important Projects (Continued from previous page) After this time it will become more difficult to recruit new section members for the 2011 membership year. On the 10th of January we had 187 members. From this number we need to add 113 members to reach 300. From a different viewpoint, we need to increase last years' final section membership of 216 by about 40%. This is a difficult but certainly manageable project, provided we have sufficient membership partici- pation in our recruiting effort. In early February I will be contacting all section members through our Sec- tion Listserv regarding this project. I will be asking for any suggestions you have about how we can achieve this goal of 300 members. I will also be asking for volunteers for a membership committee and the participation of many. This really is a "now or never" situation! Let's make it a "now." The Need for Altruism and Social Solidarity as an Antidote to a Divided World Samuel P. Oliner, Director Altruistic Personality and Prosocial Behavior Institute Humboldt State University As an undergraduate student at a University in the city of New York when I brought up Pitrim So- rokin and his study of altruism, I was dismissed by the professor, who said that Sorokin is really a ―philosopher of love‖ and not a sociologist, and love and caring was not a measurable variable in sociol- ogy, nor was it a discipline. Fortunately, today this idea of altruism, caring, compassion, social responsi- bility, and love is an idea whose time has come. We see this in the form of public sociology, that is to say sociology is getting involved with helping to alleviate social problems of society rather than writing arti- cles that collect dust on professor‘s shelves. In a world still full of malaise, violence, poverty, and hatred, there is a desperate need for sociology and other social sciences to get involved with a study that has prac- tical consequences on how to bring about a more caring society. In the last newsletter I mentioned that I published a book titled Altruism, Intergroup Apology, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation. Currently, I com- pleted a book titled, The Nature of Good and Evil. In it I define what I mean by goodness, and its various manifestations. Goodness includes altruistic behavior, compassion, social justice, caring, volunteerism, and social responsibility for diverse others. The approach in this book is a review of relevant literature, but most importantly using anecdotes to illustrate what and why people do good things for others. In my dis- cussion of evil I describe various typologies of evil, including radical and ordinary evil. Here too, I use examples of actual radical evil, which includes genocide as well as ordinary evil, simple bigotry and other manifestations of destructive human behavior. Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 5 From the Editors Matthew T. Lee and Vincent Jeffries As our Section-in-Formation continues to set newsletter records for both quantity, and we would argue, quality, the work involved in producing such newsletters can become overwhelming. Fortunately, in a spirit of altruism befitting of our Section, Vincent Jeffries has graciously agreed to co-edit this issue of the newsletter (which weighs in at 75 pages), and Joanna Lee has continued to offer her help with format- ting and layout. Due to length, some material had to be kept out of this newsletter and will appear instead in a subsequent issue. That assumes, of course, that there is a subsequent issue. As Vincent argues in his article on page 1, one of our important tasks is to ensure that the Section survives our September 30, 2011 membership deadline. If we do not have at least 300 members by that time, our Section will cease to exist. Please do what you can to recruit new members. We hope that you enjoy this issue. There is a wealth of thought-provoking content inside which demonstrates that our Section is vibrant and beneficial to members. Long live the Section! An Unusual Proposal to Increase Care in Society and to Decrease Gender Inequality Paula England, Stanford University On several dimensions, women, more than men, manifest behavior we might classify as altruistic or solidaristic: entering care occupations that involve helping others, taking primary responsibility for nurtur- ing children, and disinclination to bargain self-interestedly against the interest of the other. Unfortunately for gender equality, all three of these things lead to lower pay. Care work pays less well than other work even net of educational requirements, as some of my research with Michelle Budig and Nancy Folbre has shown. Being a mother lowers women‘s earnings. This creates a real policy dilemma. Caring for others (whether for pay or outside of paid work) has social benefits that transcend the specific recipient of care. For example, a child who learns to read and to get along with others from a parent or teacher grows up to be more productive, less likely to commit crime. He or she grows up to be a better friend, spouse, or par- ent by virtue of the work of this parent or teacher. Given these positive externalities from caring or altruis- tic behavior, public policy should seek to increase the supply of such altruistic behavior. But when some are more altruistic than others, the altruists are disadvantaged economically. Thus, raising women‘s altru- ism is a questionable policy goal as the disproportionate participation of women in altruistic roles is al- ready a source of gender inequality; in fact, lowering women‘s altruism would contribute to gender equal- ity. Perhaps the best approach is to raise men‘s altruism. This increases the overall supply of altruism, while simultaneously decreasing gender inequality. Editor's Note: This piece is a reprint from the last Newsletter due to an error in the title of the original arti- cle. Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 6 SOLIDARITY, ALTRUISM AND GENOCIDE: A contribution to the section on Morality, Altruism and Solidarity (December 2010) Continued from page 1... ...eds. Samuel Totten and Steven Jacobs (Transaction, 2002), from which this is largely extrapolated. While studying at Columbia for my Ph.D. in sociology (1971), I found myself exploring the origin of the Amritsar massacre of 1919, and devised a theory to test the difference between defenders of the per- petrator (Gen. Dyer) and those who favored the sanction against him in debates in Parliament. Basically, I tested a theory based on revising Durkheim‘s concept of the collective conscience and solidarity (Division of Labour1894) to understand how ethnoclass stratification and collective violence are related. My key deductions were that ―offenses against persons outside the universe of obligation will not be socially recognized and labeled as crime…[and that] collective violence is an offense against a class whose members are outside the universe of obligation‖ (Fein, Imperial Crime and Punishment: The Jal- lianwala Bagh massacre and British Judgement, 1919-1920 (University Press of Hawaii, 1977). This was corroborated. The concept of ―the universe of obligation‖ was one but not the only basis of theories tested in Ac- counting for Genocide: National Responses and Jewish Victimization During the Holocaust (Free Press, 1979), winner of the Sorokin Award of the American Sociological Association in 1979. One aspect of this book (not often remarked on in review) was not only accounting for national dif- ferences in rank of victimization but showing how defense of the Jews was more often effective when it was a collective defense, not based on individual altruism but collective movements (which I called ―social defense movements‖) and churches which repudiated anti-Jewish discrimination early. Further work on altruism includes a book based on interviews with heads of committees sponsoring Indochinese refugees, Congregational Sponsors of Indochinese Refugees in the US, 1979-1981: Helping Beyond Borders (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1987), I had participated in this movement as a sponsorship developer employed by the Dutchess Interfaith Council (Poughkeepsie, New York) and head of a local sponsorship committee, New Paltz Citizens CAIR (Concerned About Indochinese Refugees). The concept of solidarity, I found in my latest book, Human Rights and Wrongs: Slavery, Terror, Genocide (Paradigm Publishers, 2007) was integral to understanding the links between human rights, de- mocracy and development - (chs. 7 & 8). My own activities since then and that of my colleagues in the movement against genocide have been based not just on advancing scholarship but on seeking to prevent genocide. Assuming all people deserve to have their right to life protected. Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 7 LATEST NEWS FROM THE SCIENCE OF GENEROSITY INITIATIVE J.P. Shortall This past fall the University ofNotre Dame‘s Science of Generosity Initiative completed the second round of its RFP competition, awarding $1.4 million to nine research projects that will study the origins, manifestations and consequences of generosity. The winning projects were chosen from among 327 proposals by scholars in nearly all the social sciences andfrom around the world.The first round of the RFP competition was completed in the spring, when four projects received another $1.4 million. ―In two rounds of competition, we received almost 700 research proposals, and these 13 projects gradually emerged as the most scientifically rigorous and promising we have seen. They are led by top-notch researchers and address a variety of important questions from diverse perspectives. I‘m certain that we will learn a great deal about generosity from their work,‖ says Christian Smith, William R. Kenan Professor of Sociology and director of the gen- erosity initiative. Among the projects recently funded are: ―Attachment Formation, Compassion and Generosity,‖ by University of Kansas psychologist Omri Gillath, will look at how someone‘s sense of attachment security affects his or her compassion and generosity. This project em- ploys attachment theory to investigate whether or not attachment security is one of the bases of generous behavior. ―The Neural Circuitry Underlying Altruistic Behavior,‖ by Stephanie Brown, assistant professor in the depart- ment of preventive medicine, State University New York, Stony Brook, will examine how altruistic behavior engages a suite of cognitions, emotions and neurophysiological circuitry that amount to a caregiving behavioral system that motivates parental and other forms of caretaking behavior. ―Does Microfinancing Promote Generosity?‖ by Rohini Pande, the Mohammed Kamal Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard University Kennedy School. Pande will evaluate the impact of an influential development program— microfinance—on generosity in poor communities. The research on this project will provide evidence on how the introduction of microfinance affects the level of generosity in poor rural communities. The initiative is also conducting its own primary data research project to understand what motivates as well as ob- structs generosity. The project is using multiple mixed methods to seek to better understand the basic causal mecha- nisms that operate to generate, encourage and obstruct the exercise of generosity among people in a variety of set- tings. For the purposes of this project, the researchers define generosity as the virtue of giving good things to others freely and abundantly. Generosity also involves giving to others not simply anything in abundance but rather giving those things that are good for others. Generosity always intends to enhance the true wellbeing of those to whom it gives. One of the goals of the initiative is to help to create a coherent field of study around generosity and related topics, so researchers doing work on philanthropy, charity, volunteerism, fundraising, or organ donation, for instance, can find relevant research more easily than they could before. For this purpose, the initiative has created a website (generosityresearch.nd.edu)where visitors can find bibliographies, working papers, a Science of Generosity blog, and descriptions of current initiative research. They can also join an international network of generosity researchers and sign up to receive a regular electronic newsletter that provides its readers with news from the initiative as well as the latest on generosity research and researchers. For more information, please contact JP Shortall at [email protected]. Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 8 The Institute for Strategic Analysis of Foundations (INAEF) Marta Rey, Director, INAEF In January 2010 the Institute for Strategic Analysis of Foundations (INAEF) was launched in Spain with the goal of building useful knowledge about the organizational features and socioeconomic impact of Spanish charitable, nonprofit foundations. Charitable foundations amount to approximately half of non- profit organizations currently active in Spain. Their significant growth in terms of number of new founda- tions created, resources available, levels of activity, diversity of public purposes pursued, and social visi- bility during the last three decades has translated into increased relative weight of this type of civil society organization within the third sector and the social economy. Charitable foundations have become not only relevant socioeconomic actors, but also research-worthy ones. The INAEF seeks to overcome existing bar- riers to systematic data gathering and analysis about this type of nonprofit, and to explore how different organizational models coexisting under the foundation legal formula contribute to social innovation and economic welfare in Spain. The INAEF research project is launched in the context of to the lack of accessible, systematic and comparable data about philanthropy in Europe. This is the case despite its ancient tradition of private ac- tion for the public good, and the increasing importance of altruism and social solidarity for citizens‘ par- ticipation and welfare in contemporary societies; as it has been widely recognized from the realms of Soci- ology and other disciplines. While academic, practitioner and policy interest in altruistic behaviors of indi- viduals and households on the one hand, and in philanthropic organizations on the other, has significantly grown during recent decades, empirical data on these phenomena are still scarce, scattered and non- systematic. This means a serious barrier against sustainable, multidisciplinary research efforts and also theoretical and methodological progress, particularly when compared to the advancement of the field in the United States; and of course prevents cross-country and historical comparisons. This situation has been mapped for twelve European countries in the first publication by the Euro- pean Research Network on Philanthropy (ERNOP, www.ernop.eu), entitled The State of Giving Research in Europe and focusing on individual and household giving. A similar problem exists regarding research on institutional philanthropy, that is even reinforced by the incredible diverse typology of organizations and legal frameworks that articulate private action for the public good across Europe. Spain is not an ex- ception to this endemic lack of data. Public information about charitable nonprofit organizations (mainly foundations and public-benefit associations) is scattered around more than 60 registries and supervisory entities around the country, and the national accounting system does not either gather or provide specific information for the third sector. The first objective of the INAEF project consists of building an information system for the sector, which increases the availability of data and enables sustainable data gathering about the estimated 8.000 active nonprofit foundations currently involved in public pursuing public benefit purposes in Spain, plus the c. 450 being created in average every year. In order to fulfill this objective, the founder and leading supporter of the project, the Spanish Association of Foundations (AEF, www.fundaciones.org), has forged a set of private-public partnerships. First, it has secured the support of a group of prominent foundations (Del Pino, Santander, Telefonica, ONCE, Areces, Botin) with a track record of involvement in capacity building for the nonprofit sector. Second, it has settled collaboration agreements with foundation registries and supervisory entities in order to exchange primary data and to share research results. And finally, this type of public-private partnership is being extended, in the project‘s current phase, to national statistical agencies, with the long-term objective of elaborating a satellite account for charitable nonprofit organiza- tions. Continued on next page... Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 9 The Institute for Strategic Analysis of Foundations (INAEF) Continued from previous page... The second objective of the project is to produce the first report on the socioeconomic impact of the Spanish foundation sector. In order to fulfill this objective the Spanish Association of Foundations has assembled a multidisciplinary scientific committee and research team from three Spanish universities (A Coruña, Oviedo and Complutense of Madrid). The research team has been building a dataset upon diverse sources: the Association‘s database and foundation directory, on-line surveys to foundations, available primary and secondary sources, and the aforementioned public-private partnerships. The report aims to include basic descriptive organizational data (profile of individual or institutional founders, year of crea- tion, supervisory entity, type of public benefit purpose, geographical scope of activities, main programs); characterize different types of human resources involved in their governance and management (employees, volunteers, board members); quantify population segments benefiting from their programs and main economic variables (income, expenditures, endowment and assets); and characterize different types of organizational arrangements. Effects of the economic crisis upon employment generated by the sector will be also preliminarily explored. It should be noted, however, that compared to the US, only a minor portion of the sector consists of pure grant-giving foundations. Most manage not their own pro- grams in fields which range from international development to culture, or a diverse range of institutions and centers: hospitals, museums, R+D+i centers, universities and other educational institutions, social en- terprises, businesses, public agencies, social services centers, etc. The Spanish foundation sector is char- acterized by a highly complex pattern of public-private partnership and competition, and compared to other European countries, shows a relatively high intensity in human resources (both paid and volunteer). The third and last objective of the project consists of diffusing increased available data and analy- sis about Spanish charitable foundations with a double goal in mind: to provide incentives for academic research on philanthropic organizations under an international comparative perspective, and to improve the capacity of the sector to better serve society through reinforced accountability and transparency. For more information about the research project see www.fundaciones.org/es/inaef or contact Marta Rey ([email protected]), associate professor at the University of A Coruña, Spain. Check out the European Research Network on Philanthropy for updates and the latest edition of their newsletter: www.ernop.eu/ Altruism, Morality & Social Solidarity 10