Charity or philanthropy can be broadly defined as private gifts for public and altruistic goals. Social behaviors and moral advocacy such as benevolent and charitable, helping the poor and the poor may exist in all civilization traditions. In the modern world, public welfare actions and public welfare organizations are an important part of the “public sphere” and public life in many countries. However, the modern form of public welfare with huge scale and high organizational effectiveness-“scientific philanthropy” (scientific philanthropy), seems to be fully developed only in the United States. Modern American public welfare cannot be observed in isolation from the social and historical environment of the United States. It combines and converges many major trends and events in modern American history, presenting and publicizing the key characteristics of American capitalism, American civil society, and American elite ecology. The pivotal thing in modern American history is also an important chapter of the “American Century.” [1]
Science and Public Interest Gilded Age, Progressive: Chen Yi lofty historical consciousness and
post-Civil War America, both by the disorder, conflict and crisis as defined by the “Gilded Age”, but also as a writer and historian Jones said “The age of energy”-there are the energy of machines, industries and cities, as well as the energy of correction, reform, creation and advancement. [2] In an increasingly complex modern industrialized and urbanized society that has an inherent tendency to alienate and atomize, how to define and achieve public goals, conceive and organize the “public sphere”, and maintain and update public life? In a barbaric capitalist society where private wealth is rapidly expanding, economic gaps are widening, and monetary forces are increasingly infiltrating and intervening in society, how can new wealth achieve social utility and influence? How can wealth holders rebuild themselves and rebuild their relationship with society ? “Progressivism” in American history is a long-term response to the great changes and crises of this era; while scientific public welfare brings together a lot of historical resources and contemporary social energy, which reflects the evolving American elite’s attitude towards the above two aspects. A creative and long-term response to the issues of the times.
The source of scientific public welfare is not in the United States. It is a concept and model generated in the nation-state construction and social reform movement in Europe since the 18th century. [3] But in the United States in the Gilded Age, scientific public welfare gained the clearest form, richest connotation, and most prominent status. American banker George Peabody’s many public welfare undertakings started in the 1850s can be roughly regarded as the pioneers of American scientific public welfare and large foundations. From 1873 to 1878, there was an economic depression in the United States. The inefficiency and corruption exposed by public and private agencies in relief caused widespread criticism. As a protest movement, scientific public interest has also become an increasingly important part of the social reform movement. component. [4] The wealth of large enterprises that came out in the post-Civil War industrialization boom soon entered various charity and public welfare fields, especially large-scale donations to establish higher education. A number of private research universities such as Johns Hopkins, Chicago, Clark, Stanford, etc. are the initial historical achievements of scientific public welfare. In the 20th century, large public welfare foundations and foundation complexes such as Sage, Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford were established successively, and scientific public welfare gained a strong and solid organizational system. Among them, Frederick T. Gates also appeared. A group of outstanding managers, interpreters and social models of scientific public welfare.
The American scientific public interest movement has a clear statement of its connotation from the beginning. These expressions include “the science of social rescue”, “the science of donation”, “scientific charity”, and “public welfare science”. [5] Traditional relief and charity are often driven by religious sentiments and run by religious organizations. Early advocates of scientific public welfare have repeatedly expressed their disdain for the traditional “almsgiving” and dismissed it as “hypocrisy”, believing that old-style charity is a limited, short-lived and often ineffective repair and alleviation of human suffering and cannot be fundamentally In order to eliminate social diseases, it is especially unable to deal with the complex difficulties and crises of modern society. “Charity (charity) is aimed at the unfortunate, and public welfare is focused on all mankind.” [6] Scientific public welfare has increasingly clearly distanced itself from “Christian charity” and does not stop at short-term and superficial social issues. It is to lay a long-term foundation and conditions for a good society through active actions, rational planning and long-term agendas.
The name “Science” is derived from the scientific concepts constructed during this period. In the Anglo-American world since the 19th century, the term “science” has narrowed its meaning, and has gradually shifted from a more general concept that originally referred to various specialized knowledge categories to referring to empirical, verifiable, “pure” and higher objective knowledge categories. At the same time, the evaluation of the intrinsic value and social significance of science has also increased significantly. In the late nineteenth century, scientific concepts adhered to a new set of ideas and beliefs: social facts can and should become the object of objective, precise and definite knowledge; social improvement must be based on scientific knowledge about society; scientific knowledge can be used to correct Pathological diagnosis and treatment of social diseases; scientific social knowledge can be constructed and enhanced through professional methods and professional organizations, thereby gaining authority; American democracy must be enriched and updated by science. In the process of the “scientization” of social knowledge and social thought-and also the construction of specialized “social science”-the American intellectual elites have strengthened their understanding of the complexity and interdependence of modern society, and have become aware of social disorder The worries and vigilance of crisis are strengthened and amplified, and social pathology (and the distinction between social morbidity and normality) has become the usual way of cognition. All of these lead to the prospect and search for long-term solutions for social improvement. The scientific concepts with the characteristics of the times have reshaped American public culture and governance ideas, and have also affected the concept of “good society” and the judgment of social diseases. The ambition, imagination and agenda of modern public welfare in the United States are rooted in this. [7] Scientific public welfare advocates intelligence, rationality and science, focusing on the “root”, long-term and comprehensive plan, and its purpose and aspirations are very Chinese “for the sake of peace”.
Related to this, scientific public welfare also has the meaning of the topic, which is to help make an unprecedented huge investment in academic and higher education in American history, especially to directly support the emerging natural and social scientific research. American society has a profound tradition of “anti-intellectualism”, and has always doubted the value of advanced learning and theoretical knowledge, and various knowledge categories are receiving stable and gradually expanding social support due to scientific public welfare. [8] The
concept of scientific public welfare includes emphasizing and advocating efficiency, organization and planning, and advocating “the science of management” and “the science of organization”. The strong and lasting economic source and organizational foundation of scientific public welfare lie in the large-scale foundations created and supported by industrialized wealth and large-scale enterprise organizations. With the prosperous growth of large enterprises, the “scientific management” movement and the “managerial revolution” have emerged, and their achievements and influence have spread to scientific public welfare. The wealth foundation and initiator of scientific public welfare is the business class, and they are business and organizational geniuses like John Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie; when the business class transfers the dominance of American public welfare from religious organizations through scientific public welfare and large foundations When transferred to their own hands, they converted this once rich in religious and moral emotions into a “business plan”-making it as pragmatic and efficient as business. Therefore, the efficiency preference and managementism of large American companies And organizational effectiveness has also become an element of scientific public welfare.
