Putting Giving into Context: Examining the Effects of Religiosity, Trust, and World Society on Charitable Activity in 35 Countries

Why do people give? Social scientists have long been interested in the motives behind individual charitable giving. However, few studies have looked at the effects of social context on charitable activity, particularly in a cross-national context. This chapter uses multilevel modeling techniques to examine the effects of national context on membership in charitable and humanitarian organizations in 35 countries. I find that charitable membership is shaped by connections to world society at the country level and cosmopolitanism at the individual level. Conventional measures of income, social capital, and religiosity also hold up. Lastly, I do not find that charitable membership is a response to recent natural disasters or a reduced welfare state. The analysis has implications for our understanding of charitable activity and its roots in an increasingly expanding global humanitarian order.