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Revue française de sociologie
Ophrys

I.S.B.N.sans
200 pages

p. 147 à 162
doi: en cours

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Volume 44 2003/5

Discipline > Revue > Sommaire > Résumé

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Gifts of Blood and Organs : the Market and “Fictitious” Commodities

Philippe Steiner

Résumé de l'article

Richard M. Titmuss’ study of blood donation is still a reference on the subject of giving for medical purposes. This article reviews Titmuss’ main arguments, together with economists’ reactions to his affirmation that a system based on giving and altruism is superior to one organized around the market and self-interested action. It then shows that the gift/market opposition is a reductive one, in that it does not take into account the industrial aspect of medical donation. Lastly, on the basis of empirical information about organ donation, the article brings to light the work of social construction without which, as Titmuss clearly understood, modern forms of giving could not have been established.

Plan de l'article

• Giving vs the market ?

— Titmuss’main points and the reactions of two economists

— Donation, the market, and industry

• The social construction of the gift

— Organ donation and the problem of collection

— Institutionalizing the “right to give”

• Self-interested behavior, unpaid voluntary action, and the spread of the economic vision of the social world

• RÉFÉRENCES

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