The Other, Altruism and Empathy. Variety of Prosocial Behavior

Bibliographic Data

ID9600931
AuthorsR Cipriani (0000-0001-6722-2183, Roma Tre University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume53
Issue1
Pages11-21
Publication date2022-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe American Sociologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-1232 • E-ISSN: 1936-4784
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s12108-021-09496-y
OpenAlexW3170635814
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited25

Sociology is par excellence the science of the other since relationality is the object of its approach. It is precisely from the relationship that is established with the other that various dynamics develop, which can be pro-social or counter-social, generating forms of altruism and selfishness, generosity and appropriation, acceptance and rejection, collaboration and competition. Altruism, in particular, has been the object of attention by Comte and Spencer in a universalistic perspective very different from the contemporary forms assumed by the phenomenon of globalization. Perhaps, it is only through the analysis of the modalities of altruism that we can understand well enough the reasons that produce attitudes and behaviours that are more or less favourable towards others. If we then combine altruism with the peculiar processes of the exercise of empathy, the sociological problem in its complexity becomes even more intriguing. It is not by chance that Daniel Batson has started a rather articulate discussion that tends to show how altruism is motivated by empathy

Altruism (biology · Compassion · Empathy · Epistemology · Generosity · Object (grammar · Phenomenon · Political science · Prosocial behavior · Selfishness · Sociology · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Social Psychology · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

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