Is altruism dying?

Titmuss's (1970) seminal work The Gift Relationship compared the UK system of voluntary blood donation to the US system using for-profit enterprises and argued that a non-market altruistic system is more effective than one that treats human blood as a commodity. The HIV-contaminated imported blood that infected haemophiliacs (BBC News, 2019) illustrates the dangers of incentivised rather than altruistic blood donation. That said, NHS Blood and Transplant is increasingly concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic is deterring regular donors, especially those with high-demand blood types.

Nilsson Sojka and Sojka's (2008) survey of 531 Swedish blood donors found that donors had an altruistic motivation and first-time donors were influenced by family, friends and the media. In contrast, Ferguson et al (2008) found that benevolence (both donor and recipient benefit) rather than altruism (only recipient benefits) explained donor behaviour among British donors. Later, Ferguson (2015) argued that altruism is a complex construct and, in relation to blood donation, encompasses both ‘warm-glow givers’, where the donation is emotionally rewarding, and reluctant altruists, who use donation to excuse other less generous behaviours. Whatever motivates British blood donors, it is hoped that they continue to donate in these difficult times.