Giver-centered charity derails the recipient’s interests and even harms them

Evidence

When Jesus told the wealthy young man, “Give your riches to the poor,” what apparently mattered to him were not the poor, but rather the soul of the wealthy man for whose salvation this sacrifice was merely a means or symbol. Later on, Christian alms retained the same character; they represent no more than a form of asceticism, of “good works,” which improve the chances of salvation of the giver. The rise of begging in the Middle Ages, the senseless distribution of alms, the demoralization of the proletariat through arbitrary donations which tend to undermine all creative work, all these phenomena constitute the revenge, so to speak, that alms take for the purely subjectivistic motive of their concession—a motive which concerns only the giver but not the recipient. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 409

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Parallels the sacrifice-essay’s theme of acts performed for the giver’s spiritual benefit rather than the recipient’s — charity as ‘good works’ mirrors the self-oriented logic of sacrificial giving.
• XREF: connects to: Instrumentalizing charity alienates individuals more radically than explicit communal sacrifice does — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 413; A giver of what he does not own will take what you own — , A Year of World Stories, 944; Generosity is a disguised mode of destruction and appropriation (+3 more)

Related

• Generosity is a disguised mode of destruction and appropriation (similarity 0.87)
• Instrumentalizing charity alienates individuals more radically than explicit communal sacrifice does (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Instrumentalizing charity alienates individuals more radically than explicit communal sacrifice does #corroborates (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 413
• A giver of what he does not own will take what you own #qualifies (0.50) — , A Year of World Stories, 944