Дар и култура на дарителство в сферата на образованието: контури на една изследователска програма
Gift and Culture of Giving in the Sphere of Education: Outlines of a Research Programme

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to present and justify the main theoretical assumptions and questions for studying the gift and the culture of giving in the sphere of education. It is argued that the analysis of culture of giving for education presupposes a synthesis of two theoretical approaches: a) the understanding of the syncretic character of gift and of the social construction of the culture of giving; b) the definition of education as an autonomous sphere, the institutional specificity of which influences the culture of giving in that sphere. The analysis outlines two aspects of the social construction of the culture of giving. The first one refers to the place of the gift in social evolution, more concretely – in traditional and modern societies. The second emphasizes the role of personal socialization for the formation of the culture of giving. The dimensions of the gift as a total social fact are discussed on the basis of two acts of giving for education – the gifts of Evlogy Georgiev and of Yako Avramov. The history of Evlogy Georgiev’s gift shows how a personal will turns into an important factor for launching a new university model in Bulgaria, while the case of Yako Avramov’s gift poses the question „Is the unrealized gift a real gift?“ Taking into account the dialogical character of the act of giving and the fact that education is both an individual and a public good, it is argued that the culture of giving in a society is a synthetic indicator of social solidarity and level of trust in that society.

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