The Social Recognition of Needs

Bernhard Kittel ()
Additional contact information
Bernhard Kittel: Department of Economic Sociology

Chapter Chapter 4 in Priority of Needs?, 2024, pp 97-124 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The satisfaction of needs depends on the willingness of others to forgo own payoffs to the benefit of the claimant. Given the heterogeneity and subjectivity of individual needs, it is difficult to assess whether a need claim is based on a true lack of resources or whether the claimant misrepresents the need. Hence, the recognition of a need claim by others depends on some mechanism of social objectivation. Under what conditions are distributive claims recognized as legitimate needs by a social group instead of being dismissed as subjective desires? The chapter addresses three conditions of the social recognition of needs. First, inequality aversion theory suggests that needs are likely to be satisfied as long as the transfer does not produce a rank reversal between the donor and the recipient. Second, information is crucial. If donors can verify the veracity of a need claim, the willingness to satisfy a claim rises. Third, need is particularly salient as a principle of justice in solidary groups. Hence, the satisfaction of needs depends on social proximity.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-031-53051-7_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031530517

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-53051-7_4

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().