Welfare, Ethnicity and Altruism : New Data and Evolutionary Theory

by Salter, Frank

• ISBN13: 9780203499757
• ISBN10: 0203499751
• Copyright: 2004-02-06
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Summary

Welfare, Ethnicity, and Altruism applies the controversial theory of 'Ethnic Nepotism', first formulated by Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt and Pierre van den Berghe, to the modern welfare state (both are authors in this volume). This theory states that ethnic groups resemble large families whose members are prone to cooperate due to 'kin altruism'. Recent empirical findings in economics and political science offer confirmatory evidence. The book presents two separate studies that compare welfare expenditures around the world, both indicating that the more ethnically mixed a population becomes, the greater is its resistance to redistributive policies. These results point to profound inconsistencies within ideologies of both left and right regarding ethnicity.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The symposium target paper in broader context

Does Ethnic Heterogeneity Depress Public Altruism in Multi-Ethnic Societies?

Urban Begging and Ethnic Nepotism in Russia: An ethnological pilot study

Ethnic Diversity, Population Size and Charitable Giving at the Local Level in the United States

Ethnic Heterogeneity and Public Spending: Testing the evolutionary theory of ethnicity with cross-national data

An Exploratory Comparative Study of the Relationship between Ethnic Heterogeneity and Welfare Politics

Reconciling the Differences between Sanderson's and Vanhanen's Results

Welfare Broadly Defined

Ethnic Heterogeneity and Economic Growth: Ethnolinguistic diversity, government and growth

Ethnic Diversity, Foreign Aid, Economic Growth, Population Policy, Welfare, Inequality, Conflict and the Costs of Globalism: A perspective on W. Masters and M. McMillan's findings

Explanation and Prediction: Does evolutionary theory help?

The Limits of Chimpanzee Charity: Strategies of meat sharing in communities of wild apes

Selfish Cooperation, Loyalty Structures and Proto-Ethnocentrism in Intergroup Agonistic Behaviour

Canadian Welfare Policy and Ethnopolitics: Toward an evolutionary model

Why Welfare States Rise and Fall: Ethnicity, belief systems, and environmental influences on the support for public goods

Ethical and Policy Implications

Ethnicity, the Problem of Differential Altruism, and International Multiculturalism

Affirmative Action and Ethnic Nepotism

The Evolutionary Deficit in Mainstream Political Theory

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