Editor’s Introduction

Arien Mack Editor’s Introduction W E c h o s e “g i v i n g : c a r in g f o r t h e n e e d s o f s t r a n g e r s ” a s t h e theme of the conference on which this issue of Social Research is based because we believe the issues surrounding it are both eternally impor­ tant and of particular importance now. At a time when the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, when most countries in the world are suffering deep and destabilizing financial crises leading to large increases in the number of the un- or underemployed, and when catastrophic natural and manmade disasters seem to be on the rise, causing vast amounts of human suffering, convening a conference on giving seemed virtually mandatory. Even if we look only at New York, where this journal is published, cases in point range from the Occupy Wall Street movement, which began as a local protest against inequal­ ity and greed and now has become a global movement, to the destruc­ tion caused by Hurricane Sandy, during and after which those of us who live in downtown New York City briefly became some of those very strangers in need. But the conference and this issue are not meant as a lamentation about the current extreme state of need or as an advertisement for the importance of giving. Rather, they are intended as an avenue toward deepening our understanding of why we do give to others and why we should do so; what the roots of altruism are; how we can instill gener­ osity in our young; what the religious and philosophical grounds for caring and giving to others are; and what the correct balance between private philanthropy and government welfare programs may be. Our basic assumption is that understanding these issues is the most direct path to finding effective solutions to the problems that confront us. Editor’s Introduction xxi The “Giving” conference, like all of its predecessors, would not have been possible without the generous support of and advice from knowledgeable people. I am deeply grateful to the John Templeton Foundation and the Rockefeller Archives Center for providing the fund­ ing that made the conference a reality. ...