SOCIOL 173 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Richard Titmuss, Blood Donation, Bloodborne
Document Summary
Lecture outline, march 1, 2017: donation, gift, money, organizations, and obligations. In 1973 u. s. dept. of health, education, and welfare: national blood policy = instituted all voluntary donation. Let"s look at titmuss"s argument: paying for blood attracted poor people paid donors contaminated supply because they were less healthy (esp. hepatitis b) and lied because they were poor and needed the money contamination occurred because donors were paid. Diseases are socially distributed, usually predictably linked to income, class, etc. Biology and technology: eggs = finite supply, one/month; hormonal stimulation more eggs; egg freezing newly possible but very expensive; egg bank organization: donors and recipients have to be matched before procedure because fresh eggs have are used in ivf. Market & non-market elements: competition younger & more attractive women no. Proven fertility requirement; oversupply of potential donors does not bring fees down; potential donors: motivational shift; giving a gift, imagining relationship, being chosen .
