The sociology of compassion

A study in the sociology of morals

Bibliographic Data

ID7095528
AuthorsNatan Sznaider (Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo, corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume2
Issue1
Pages117-139
Publication date1998-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCultural Values (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1362-5179 • E-ISSN: 1467-8713
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14797589809359290
OpenAlexW1971942982
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited55

This essay analyzes the theoretical foundations of collective interest in the sufferings of strangers. Concern with the suffering of others, accompanied by the urge to help, is compassion. This study develops the social and historical conditions under which public compassion emerges. Two broad interpretations of these developments are suggested. The democratization perspective suggests that with the lessening of profoundly categorical and corporate social distinctions, compassion becomes more extensive. A second perspective is linked to the emergence of market society. By defining a universal field of others with whom contracts and exchanges can be made, market perspectives extend the sphere of moral concern as well: however unintentionally. Public compassion is part of the language of modernity. This gives compassion the possibility to be also part of a newly emerging 'Second Modernity

Compassion · Democracy · Democratization · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Modernity · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Philosophy · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory