The Symbolic and Social Power of Charity - with Jon Dean

In episode 77 we talk to Jon Dean, Senior Lecturer in Politics & Sociology at Sheffield Hallam University, about his new book The Good Glow: Charity and the Symbolic Power of Doing Good. Including:

 

• What role does the way in which our charitable actions are viewed by others play in shaping our giving?
• Is the “warm glow” of giving always dependent on one’s acts being visible to others, or can it be entirely personal?
• Does the symbolic power of giving diminish if others are aware of how this functions? (i.e. once we suspect that charity is motivated partly a desire for social status, does that reduce our willingness to play along?)
• To what extent has the halo effect of philanthropy been deliberately used by the wealthy to preclude or offset wider criticism (e.g. of their tax affairs, business practices etc.)?
• What happens if critiques of philanthropy undermine its symbolic value to the donor? (i.e. if people’s default mode is scepticism or cynicism, does this lessen the appeal to the donor of making public gifts?)
• Does the desire for anonymity among some donors run counter to the idea that a desire for social status is a crucial part of the motivation for giving? (Or is it merely important that the “right” people know you gave?)
• What happens when the social rewards/warm glow of giving become temporally dissociated from the actual transfer of money (as with the tendency to make “pledges” rather than outright gifts)?
• What about when this is taken to its extreme conclusion (as with Donald Trump’s appropriation of the trappings of philanthropy without actually giving any money)?
• How has social media changed things when it comes to using charity to present ourselves positively to others?
• Does a focus on the outcomes/impact of giving, rather than the act or intention, potentially lessen the importance of the social symbolism of charity (an extreme case being that of Effective Altruism)?
• Do charities rely too much on the authority that comes from their “symbolic power”? In a future where the options for doing good are likely to be far wider (e.g. crowdfunding, online movements, corporate purpose etc.) and charities are not the only game in town, will they have a rude awakening?
• How do the themes in the book relate to the current context of charity during the covid-19 pandemic? Have charities come to rely on the enormous symbolic power of the NHS? Have views on the responsibilities of the state vs charity shifted in ways that will affect the perception of charitable acts in future?

 

 

Related links:

• Jon’s new book The Good Glow
• Jon’s recent blog about the book for HistPhil
• Jon’s article “The limits of digital charity: Young people, giving and social media”
• David Fahrentold’s Pulitzer Prize citation for reporting that helped to “cast doubt on Donald Trump’s assertions of generosity toward charities.”
• Our Giving Thought podcast episode on “philanthropic pledges”
• Our Giving Thought podcast with Ben Soskis on “learning from the history of philanthropy”