States relieve visible need while private charity treats individual causes

Evidence

Incidentally, it is of sociological importance to observe that the natural distribution of the two types of assistance between the State and private individuals is modified as soon as one follows up the causal chain one step further. The State—in England more clearly than elsewhere—meets externally visible need; private assistance attends to its individual causes. But the fundamental economic and cultural circumstances which create those personal conditions can only be changed by the collectivity. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 434

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the essay’s causal chain: how institutional responses to social-role occupants structure urban life. — connects to: States can owe obligations to the poor without granting them corresponding rights — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 414; Welfare can target the fact of poverty or its individual causes — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 434; Adding statistics to an individual’s story reduces charitable giving — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 11053 (+1 more)

Related

• Welfare can target the fact of poverty or its individual causes (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Adding statistics to an individual’s story reduces charitable giving #complicates (0.70) — , The Rod and the Child, 11053