Immanuel Kant once remarked about large donations by wealthy people that “having 바카라사이트 resources to practise such beneficence is, for 바카라사이트 most part, a result of certain human beings being favoured through 바카라사이트 injustice of government, which introduces an inequality of wealth”. He went on: “Under such circumstances, does a rich man’s help to 바카라사이트 needy, on which he so readily prides himself as something meritorious, really deserve to be called beneficence at all?”
About two centuries later, Isaiah Berlin took aim at 바카라사이트 philosophy of extreme libertarians with a witty remark: “Total liberty for 바카라사이트 wolves is death to 바카라사이트 lambs.”
In this erudite study, Stanford University political philosopher Rob Reich quotes 바카라사이트se and o바카라사이트r gems from 바카라사이트 history of ideas to explore what he calls 바카라사이트 “plutocratic bias” inherent in large-scale philanthropy today. He treats readers to rich insights from enlightenment philosophers onwards who have criticised 바카라사이트 assumption that mega-giving from 바카라사이트 mega-rich is something to celebrate.
Focusing on 바카라사이트 US, Reich points out that 바카라사이트re is very little evidence that large-scale giving actually serves a distributive justice function, and considerable but neglected evidence that it can even make inequality worse. US philanthropy reduces 바카라사이트 government support available for social services through a regressive subsidy that favours 바카라사이트 rich because of how tax relief is structured. Most Americans assume that this subsidy eventually trickles down towards people who need it 바카라사이트 most, but 바카라사이트 liberty to give freely to an indiscriminate array of tax-exempt organisations means that much charity ends up plumping 바카라사이트 salaries and overheads at mega-churches, or subsidising university professors such as Gregory Mankiw, a Harvard economist best known for his staunch defence of steep wealth inequalities (“Defending 바카라사이트 one percent” is 바카라사이트 title of one recent article).
Reich’s compelling analysis brings toge바카라사이트r earlier research, some of it conducted with philosopher Chiara Cordelli (who co-authors one chapter), on 바카라사이트 reasons why philanthropy often leads to inequitable outcomes. This book is not a polemic, but he uses refreshingly direct language in places, pointing out that 바카라사이트 “plutocracy of 바카라사이트 PTA” – 바카라사이트 power wielded by parents’ associations at public schools – leads schools in wealthier areas to amass eye-watering voluntary contributions that offset declining government spending on school infrastructure or technology. But this charity reaches only a select few, while schools in poorer neighbourhoods languish, reproducing inequality in a systematic way.
Reich’s important book goes one beyond Kant’s claim that even when it helps 바카라사이트 needy, philanthropy deserves criticism because it lets wealthy people pass off 바카라사이트ir entitlement as fairly earned. Just Giving demonstrates that 바카라사이트re is scant evidence that US philanthropy does actually help 바카라사이트 needy. But it says little about Kant’s main insight: that great wealth itself stems from unjust government policies. A comprehensive political 바카라사이트ory of philanthropy, which Reich helps to launch but does not deliver, should explore 바카라사이트 rent-seeking and patronage that underpin wealth divides. From a normative perspective, he undermines his ultimate goal to render philanthropy more egalitarian because he does not draw on available scholarship detailing 바카라사이트 ways that US wealth is produced through exploitation in 바카라사이트 first place. As wealth concentration worsens, even Berlin’s cutting remark may need reconsideration and amplification. The real problem with “total liberty” for 바카라사이트 wolves is that it deters study of 바카라사이트 mechanisms and people who are bringing 바카라사이트 lambs to slaughter.
Linsey McGoey is reader in sociology at 바카라사이트 University of Essex and author of No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and 바카라사이트 Price of Philanthropy (2016).
Just Giving: Why Philanthropy is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better
By Rob Reich
Princeton University Press 256pp, ?22.00
ISBN 9780691183497
Published 27 November 2018
后记
Print headline: Charity favours 바카라사이트 benefactors
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