Contemporary Social Evils by Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Author:Joseph Rowntree Foundation [Foundation, Joseph Rowntree]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Public Policy, Social Services & Welfare, Social Policy, Social Science, Political Science, Sociology, Research, General
ISBN: 9781847424099
Google: q901DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 6280832
Publisher: Policy Press
Published: 2009-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

Reinventing altruism

We must rebuild trust. That means politicians being less frightened of the voters and closer to them. It means doctors and other professionals talking frankly about risks and benefits. It means the media applying self-denying ordinances to stories of blame, day after day. It means all of us heeding W.H. Auden’s famous line in the lead-up to the Second World War: “We must trust one another, or we die” (1 September 1939).

Acting with appropriate care, we must open out our institutions so that ordinary people can see what happens in our care homes and children’s homes. These are institutions within our communities and ordinary people need to go into them on our behalf. We must challenge the insurers and the writers of policies in care homes and other institutions. Fear of fault-finding has led to masterly inactivity. That must cease. We need to stop blaming people and stop seeking their dismissal, unless in extreme circumstances. We need to recognise that getting most things right most of the time is an impressive record in human interactions.

We must also reassess family breakdown and put more emphasis – in settlements, counselling and relationship support – on those who suffer as a consequence but never choose to part the ways, notably children and other dependants. We must also reassess the prevailing emphasis on ourselves; on our own contentment and inner feelings. Sometimes those selfish things need to be addressed. But all too often a focus on self leads to an inability to do things for others. We must work out how to focus on the glorious sense of purpose that comes out of doing things for others rather than ourselves.

We need, in short, to reinvent altruism, and take up the challenge which argues that the state cannot do everything for everybody. It probably cannot do everything, but it can undoubtedly set out the circumstances in which more of us can – and would wish to – do things for each other as part of normal behaviour without being threatened with burdensome regulation and an atmosphere of mistrust.

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