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December 04, 2006
Crowding out compassion
As historian David Beito points out, America used to have all sorts of mutual aid societies. But with our turn to the welfare state many of those organizations have been crowded out.
Perhaps government action (or the expectation of it) crowds out other kinds of voluntarism:
- In Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism (Basic Books), Arthur C. Brooks finds that religious conservatives are far more charitable than secular liberals, and that those who support the idea that government should redistribute income are among the least likely to dig into their own wallets to help others.
More here.
Posted by tedb at December 4, 2006 06:54 PM
My guess is that Brooks has probably missed the mark here. In focusing on religious/political/social affiliation, he is probably masking the effects of more important variables such as income, which one would generally expect to influence levels of charitable giving.
Comment by: Michael Iacono at December 6, 2006 12:12 PM
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