Encyclopedia of Sociology

ALTRUISM

responsibility of others to help. Thus, when some-
one in medical clothing is present at a medical
emergency, others are less likely to help. A second
process underlying the effect, when bystanders
can see each other, involves definition of the situa-
tion. If no one moves to intervene, the group may
collectively provide a social definition for each
other that the event is not one that requires
intervention.

Social Variables. Research has also demon-
strated the influence of other social variables on
helping. Darley and Latané (1968) showed experi-
mentally that people were more likely to provide
help in an emergency in the presence of a friend
rather than in the presence of strangers. They
reasoned that in emergency situations in which a
friend does not respond, one is not likely to attrib-
ute this to lack of concern, but rather will seek
other explanations. In addition, bystanders who
are acquainted are more likely to talk about the
situation. Thus, preexisting social relationships
among bystanders affect helping. Individuals are
also more likely to help others who are similar to
them, whether in dress style or in political ideolo-
gy. The perceived legitimacy of need, a variable
defined by social norms, also affects rates of help-
ing. In one field study of emergency intervention,
bystanders were more likely to help a stranger who
collapsed in a subway car if the distress was attrib-
uted to illness rather than to drunkenness (Piliavin,
Rodin, and Piliavin 1969).

Other demographic variables, such as sex,
age, socioeconomic status, and race have also been
investigated. Race appears to affect helping main-
ly when the costs for helping are relatively high, or
when failure to help can be attributed to factors
other than prejudice (Dovidio 1984). In the study
cited above (Piliavin et al. 1969) the rate of helping
by white and black bystanders was unrelated to the
race of the victim who appeared to be ill, but help
offered to the drunk was almost always by people
of his own race. Females are usually helped more
than males, but who helps more depends heavily
on the nature of the help required. Males tend to
help females more than they help males, whereas
females are equally helpful to females and males
(see Piliavin and Unger 1985). This pattern may
reflect stereotypic gender roles: Females are stereo-
typed as dependent and weaker than males. Other
studies of the effect of social statuses on helping

indicate, consistent with social categorization theo-

ry, that members of one’s own group tend to be

helped more than outgroup members. Studies of

reactions following natural disasters show that

people tend to give aid first to family members,

then to friends and neighbors, and last to strangers.

THE SOCIOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF

HELPING

Gergen and Gergen (1983) call for increased at-

tention to the social structural context of helping

and to the interactive history and process of the

helping relationship (see also Piliavin and Charng

1990). Social structure is clearly important as a

context for helping. Social structure specifies the

pool of social roles and meaning systems associat-

ed with any interaction (Callero, Howard, and

Piliavin 1987). Social structure also influences the

distribution of resources that may be necessary for

certain helping relationships. One needs money to

be able to donate to a charity and medical expert-

ise to be able to help earthquake victims. Wilson

and Musick (1997) have presented data in support

of a model using both social and cultural capital as

predictors of involvement in both formal and

informal volunteering. Social structure also deter-

mines the probability of both social and physical

interaction among individuals and thus influences

the possibility of helping.

Interaction history is also crucial to under-

standing helping behavior. If a relationship has

been positive and mutually supportive, this con-

text suggests that beneficial actions should be

defined as helping. If a relationship has been

characterized by competition and conflict, this

context does not support defining beneficial ac-

tion as helping. In this case, alternative, more self-

serving motivations may underlie helping. Thus

the provision of U.S. foreign aid to countries with

which the United States has had conflict is often

viewed as a strategic tool, whereas when such aid

has been provided to countries with which the

United States has had positive relationships, it is

viewed generally as genuine helping. Such pat-

terns illustrate this influence of interaction history

on the interpretation of helping behavior.

Another sociological approach emphasizes

helping as role behavior and is guided by Mead’s