International Aid Is More than Altruism

March 09, 2017Our free gift to unnamed strangers keeps us all safer and the world a bit more stable.Decades ago, Richard Titmuss, a renowned British sociologist, wrote a book calledThe Gift Relationship: From Blood to Social Policy, comparing blood transfusion services in Britain and the United States. He found that if donors were paid for their blood (as many in the US were at the time), there was a temptation for those who knew their blood was not safe for donation to give it anyway, leading to a less-safe stock of blood supplies that had cost more to produce.That conclusion alone led to much heated transatlantic debate.But beyond the economic rhetoric, Titmuss expanded on the philosophy and implications of what he called the gift relationship:  “Unlike gift-exchange in traditional societies, there isin the free gift of blood to unnamed strangersno contract of custom, no legal bond …no situations of discriminatory power, domination, constraint or compulsion, no sense of shame or guilt, no gratitude imperative…”Most Americans grossly overestimate the percentage of the federal budget spent on overseas aid, which is less than 1%.Selfless giving —where the donor gives no thought to reward—is actually rare. Talking of blood donation, only 4% of the population in most industrialized countries routinely gives blood. It is so unusual that it makes headlines when we see large numbers of people doing so. Think of themedia reports of people waiting in line to donate blood...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: news