Proposing a sociology of donation: The donation of body parts and products for art, education, research, or treatment

Abstract

This article advances the case for a 'sociology of donation'. We aim to establish that there is a need for such a sociology, to bring together the many, often disparate, elements that make up the theorizing, practice and experience of donation. We argue that bringing together different forms of donation illuminates the distinctive place both in social meaning and regulation that the body and its products hold. In developing this, we are primarily focusing on the donation of body parts and body products within high-income countries. We will first outline the standard western accounts of donation, and consider how relevant these are to donation practices and policies in the 21st century. We will then critically discuss how a sociology of donation can be used to further current understandings of 'donation' and identify the challenges facing such a proposal, posing questions to encourage reflection on research practices in this area. Finally, we will explore what a sociology of donation might entail. 1 | INTRODUCTION This article contributes to the recent debates surrounding a sociology of donation. International researchers have contemplated a sociology of donation from various standpoints, including morality (Shaw, 2019), gender (Kent,

‘Improving the odds for everybody’: Narrative and media in stem cell donor recruitment patient appeals, and the work to redress racial inequity

“…Family effort is no doubt underwritten by a profound amount of care, ignited by a fear of loss of their loved one. This casts further light on the network of actors that make up the donation assemblage (Machin et al, 2020), but also centres us on an important point: that appeals are things that those involved in them evidently feel compelled to do specifically because they or a loved one cannot find a match.…”

“…Whilst narrative has been a perennial concern to sociologists concerned with donation, media has been less so. In the recent and important effort to draw together and establish a future agenda for the area, scholars acknowledge media’s role in how meaning is brought to ideas and practices of donation (e.g., Dimond et al., 2019), yet it is absent in a systems‐level framing of donation that incorporates within it clinicians and families, communities and cultures (Machin et al., 2020). This is perhaps because, whilst there is an extensive social science literature at the media/donation intersection that explores components of media in both how donation systems operate and how people come (not) to engage with them (Kim [2018] on Japanese press coverage of contaminated blood public health scandals; Kierans and Cooper [2011] on ethnicity‐targeted publicity campaigns for organ donors in the UK; Simpson [2011] on Sri Lankan blood donor advertising), less attention has been paid to how media itself, extensive and central to social life as it is, plays a vital role in the donation context.…”

“…Her account is indicative of how these appeals, though ostensibly about individuals, are often situated within familial networks. Donation scholars acknowledge how donation comprises an assemblage, including ‘a tangled web of people’ including both the donor and their family (Machin et al., 2020, p. 6). Appeals demonstrate how this assemblage extends to would‐be recipients and their own families, whose interests lie in their loved one locating a donor.…”

A critical contribution in a time of crisis: Examining motivations and deterrents to COVID‐19 convalescent plasma donation and future donation intentions among prospective Canadian donors

“…The sociology of donation situates donors within wider social structures, and relatedly, interrogates concepts that have been central to analysing motivations of donors. There is a growing scholarship challenging the concept of altruism, arguing that donation is rarely simply a gift, but often an opportunity for reciprocity, personal gain, or mutual exchange, 6 embedded in the context of a community. 7 , 8 For example, researchers have found that appeals towards enhancing the status of an organisation, giving back to community, performing a civic duty, having blood donation tied to meaningful aspects of their social network, 7 , 8 or meeting the increasing need for plasma‐derived treatments for recipients with a range of illnesses 9 can be more effective in recruiting donors than appeals to altruism.…”

“…We see donation as existing within wider social structures such as family, education, and work, and the act of donation as involving a complex web of social actors—the donor, the recipient, practitioners. 6 Thus, our analysis considers motivations and deterrents as existing socially, where decisions are made in relation to other people and communities.…”