Frank Adloff

Giving Social Ties, Reciprocity in Modern Society

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the meaning of giftgiving and reciprocity in modern society and thereby following the pointers left by Marcel Mauss. A critique will be made of the dichotomy of self-interest and normatively orientated action that forms the basis of sociology. For this conceptual dichotomization has caused forms of social interaction that cannot be localized either on the side of self-interest or on that of morality. It is the logic of the gift and the reciprocity thus evoked that in our view accompanies and structures all forms of interaction, from the social micro to the macrolevel. It is shown that in modern societies gifts and reciprocities form their own orders of interaction, and not only on a microsocial level. The principle of reciprocity even accompanies as a rule transfers owing to (state) compulsion as well as economic, selective exchange. As a basic principle of processes of sociation it is, fundamentally, present everywhere and in some areas it is explicitly and openly in effect (for example in welfare state transfers). Sociology has for too long overlooked the fact that this principle cannot be traced back either to normativist or to utilitarian explanations and nevertheless represents a principle of construction of modern societies.

What encourages charitable giving and philanthropy

ABSTRACT In recent years, increasing public attention has been paid to voluntary action, civic engagement and philanthropy. It is in this framework that the growing numbers of childless older people are regarded as a valuable source of charitable giving. In fact, by giving to philanthropic foundations – instead of consuming their wealth or leaving inheritances – childless donors may develop into pioneers in the field of post-familial civic engagement. The article explores the circumstances under which childless older people adopt this behaviour in both Germany and the United States of America. It is found that making large donations or setting up philanthropic foundations is still an elite phenomenon, but on the other hand that establishing a foundation is attractive for childless people, both as a means of ensuring that ones name lives on, and as a way of organising bequests. Educational level, ill-health, social capital and religiosity all positively reinforce the inclination of childless people to transfer resources to charities. It is also shown that the institutional framework or organised fundraising has a large role in fostering charitable giving among the childless. The framework of charity organisations and fund raising in the country of residence plays an important role in determining the expansion and democratisation of charitable giving.

Religion and Social-political Action: The Catholic Church, Catholic Charities, and the American Welfare State

A few years ago the sociologist Alan Wolfe summarized his observations of the current debates surrounding the American welfare state as follows: ‘With the left on the defensive and unions in decline, the Catholic Church has emerged as one of the most powerful forces promoting economic equality in the United States’ (Wolfe, 2000: 3). How has a conservative immigrant church, subject to longstanding hostility from Protestants, developed into a public social actor that defends social justice issues and criticizes American free market liberalism? This paper addresses the question of how the hierarchy of the Catholic Church as well as Catholic Charities USA became publicly active collective actors on a national level, involved in societal and political discourses and not hesitating to oppose the American conservative and liberal mainstream, especially in the field of social policy. Arguing also that Catholicism has made a distinct religious and cultural contribution to American society, this article aims to reconstruct the way this special ‘counter-cultural’ contribution in the field of social policy has evolved. The Catholic Church and Catholic Charities are deeply committed to the notion of social rights and resist an individualizing approach to fighting poverty. What requires explanation is the fact that, until the 1970s, the Church was politically very reluctant to oppose government policies. It is only since the 1980s that it has entered into the discourse of national social policy as a public religion. Following an argument put forward by Casanova (1994), it can be said that the Catholic Church deprivatized, and it did so at a time when critics of the welfare state dominated the discourse and the Reagan administration was trying to cut back welfare policies during a period of time when the American Catholics no longer lived under socially deprived

Dichotomizing Religion and Civil Society? Catholicism in Germany and the USA Before the Second Vatican Council

This article argues in three different ways against a secularist dichotomization of religion and civil society in general and of Catholicism and civil society in particular. First, it historicizes the opposition between religion and civil society by reconstructing the involvement of the social sciences in the anti-Catholicism of the Kulturkampf of the nineteenth century, which continues to obstruct views of the practices and institutions of civil society to this day. Secondly, the article refutes this opposition at a performative level by using the examples of Germany and the USA to show how Catholicism was the motivating force behind numerous practices and institutions of civil society even before the Second Vatican Council. Thirdly, the Kulturkämpfe in Germany and the USA clearly demonstrate how much the differentiation between bonding and bridging social capital is dependent on the question of social and state discrimination and/or on the problem of integration into society as a whole. The article thus makes clear the relevance of religion in general as a resource for civic action.

Wirtschaft und Zivilgesellschaft im sozialwissenschaftlichen Diskurs

Seit Beginn der neunziger Jahre des abgelaufenen Jahrhunderts findet in den Sozialwissenschaften eine Revitalisierung des Themas „Zivilgesellschaft“ statt. Es ist von der Auseinandersetzung in den USA inspiriert, in der es um eine Abnahme und einen Wandel des burgerschaftlichen Engagements seit den sechziger Jahren und insbesondere seit der Zeit der Reagan-Administration in den achtziger Jahren geht (vgl. Wuthnow 2001). Mit dem Begriff der Zivilgesellschaft sind Assoziationen — wie Verbande, Vereine, Initiativen, Burgerforen oder soziale Bewegungen — im intermediaren und (vor)politischen Raum zwischen Gesellschaft und Staat angesprochen, in denen und durch die eine politische Meinungs-, Willens- und Entscheidungsfindung stattfindet und in die Offentlichkeit getragen wird. Diese Assoziationen als zivilgesellschaftliche Akteure sowie die Entwicklung burgerschaftlicher Werte und Normen konnen im Sinn von Putnam (2000) als Sozialkapital einer Gesellschaft gewertet werden, dessen Entfaltung in westlichen liberalen Demokratien von rechtsstaatlichen Garantien negativer und positiver Freiheit beeinflusst ist.

Die Konflikttheorie der Theorie kollektiver Akteure

Mit dem Namen Amitai Etzioni verbindet sich ein umfangreiches und vielfaltiges soziologisches Werk. Seine Dissertation schrieb er Ende der 50er Jahre uber die israelischen Kibbuzim. In den 60er Jahren galt er als einer der avanciertesten amerikanischen Organisationssoziologen (vgl. Etzioni 1961). Sein theoretisches Hauptwerk ist „The Active Society“ aus dem Jahre 1968 (Etzioni 1975). Danach wandte er sich praktischen Problemen — um nur einiges zu nennen — der Friedensforschung, der amerikanischen Okonomie und der Gentechnik zu. In den 80er Jahren schuf Etzioni mit einer Kritik der neoklassischen Wirtschaftstheorie die Grundlagen fur die Theoriebewegung der Socio-Economics (Etzioni 1988). Am bekanntesten machte ihn jedoch wahrend des letzten Jahrzehnts sein theoretischer und praktischer Einsatz fur den Kommunitarismus (vgl. Etzioni 1997). Er gilt als spiritus rector der amerikanischen kommunitaristischen Bewegung. Sein Engagement richtet sich hier vor allem auf sozialwissenschaftlich informierte und normative Vorschlage zur Wiederbelebung gemeinschaftlicher Bindungen, die einem exzessiven Individualismus Einhalt gebieten konnen. In diesem Beitrag soll allerdings vornehmlich Etzionis Beitrag zu den Grundlagen soziologischer Theoriebildung vorgestellt werden. Dabei beziehe ich mich zu einem grosen Teil auf Etzionis „The Active Society“, versuche aber auch die spateren kommunitaristischen Theoriebausteine daran anzuschliesen.

Marcel Mauss’ Soziologie und Anthropologie interaktionistisch lesen.

Zusammenfassung Symposiumsbeitrag zu: MARCEL MAUSS, Soziologie und Anthropologie. Band 1: Theorie der Magie / Soziale Morphologie. Wiesbaden: VS 2010, 275 S., br., 24,95 € MARCEL MAUSS, Soziologie und Anthropologie. Band 2: Gabentausch – Todesvorstellung – Körpertechniken. Wiesbaden: VS 2010, 253 S., br., 24,95 €

‘Saying no to organ donation’: an empirical typology of reluctance and rejection

In Germany, as well as in other countries, organ shortages are usually explained by a relative unwillingness to donate among a population which is assumed to be caused by a lack of information and mistrust of the system. As we can see in the data of our qualitative research (focus groups and interviews), lack of information or mistrust are not the only reasons for people to be reluctant to agree to the donation of their organs after death. In fact we can identify four positions: (1) information deficit; (2) mistrust; (3) no killing; and (4) bodily integrity. The first and second are the two prominent explanations in the public discourse about low donation rates. The third and the fourth instead have neither been adequately articulated nor been discussed as a proper argument. Therefore, by means of sociology of critique, we discuss their contribution to the discourse as comprehensible reasons for reluctance and present them as credible positions of criticism: These two positions illuminate fundamental and universal values of the inviolability of the person and human dignity. Thus, both positions are consistent and morally justifiable and should be addressed with sensitivity.

Mein Leben ist ein Fortfahren von Eigenreparatur

Anhand von Interviews und Fokusgruppen mit Anti-Aging-Usern nimmt der Artikel die sich in dieser Praxis und dem sie begleitenden Diskurs dokumentierenden Korperkonzepte in den Blick. Die Anti-Aging-Medizin konzipiert den menschlichen Korper als gleichzeitig bedroht und bedrohlich, indem sie Altern vor allem als Risikofaktor fur alterskorrelierte Krankheiten versteht. Das aus dieser Konzeption resultierende doppelgesichtige Verhaltnis zum eigenen Korper kann als Dialektik von Disziplin und Selbstsorge interpretiert werden. Schlusselt man die Korperkonzepte des Anti-Aging mit der Gegenuberstellung von „Korper“ und „Leib“ theoretisch auf, kann gezeigt werden, welche Rolle das leibliche Spuren im Hier und Jetzt in der tagtaglichen Anwendung von Anti-Aging spielt. Schlieslich pladiert der Artikel dafur, die Wirkmacht des eigenleiblichen Spurens in der soziologischen Analyse als empirisches Datum nicht nur anzuerkennen, sondern systematisch einzubeziehen.

Critique in statu nascendi? The Reluctance towards Organ Donation

»Kritik in statu nascendi? Die Zurückhaltung gegenüber der Organspende«. This article offers a differentiated characterization of those who are uncertain, skeptical, or reluctant in their attitude to organ donation. We explore if and how skepticism about organ donation can be expressed and enacted against the background of moral imperatives in favor of donation. To that end, we take a closer look at one paradigmatic case from our sample and discuss the sense of ‘unease’ experienced with regards to organ donation as a form of critique that finds itself in a major conflict: the moral imperative to help and to ‘save lives’ confronts an unbearable disregard and disrespect for personal integrity and leads to a feeling of trouble and shame. People are often unable to show that the ethical value of the integrity of the person has equivalent value to the rightness of saving lives. This is related to the fact that the pure materiality of the human body is such a dominant theme in the medical discourse that positions that speak of the dignity of the person (and this includes the body as well) beyond the grave are not only marginalized but lack the very vocabulary they need to argue this position. Thus, the article contributes to our understanding of the affective, physical bases for unease and critique.