THE CULTURAL PATTERNING OF SYMPATHY TOWARD THE HOMELESS AND OTHER VICTIMS OF MISFORTUNE

In this paper we seek to advance understanding of the cultural bases o f sentiments and social problems by examining temporal variation in th e expression of sympathy with respect to homelessness and famine in th e United States and homelessness in England. Specifically, we hypothes ize that sympathy towards the homeless (and, by implication, other per ceived victims of misfortune as well) varies seasonally in the United States, such that it expands during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday season and contracts immediately thereafter. We examine this thesis w ith data drawn from three sources: coverage of homelessness and famine by newspaper stories in the New York Times Index during rite 1975-199 3 time period; coverage of homelessness in the London Times over a sim ilar period (1980-1993), and tracking voluntarism to a local foundatio n serving the homeless over a 5-year period (1989-1993). The data reve al that sympathy for and gestures of goodwill towards the homeless fol low an annual cycle, with sympathetic interest increasing with the adv ent of Thanksgiving in November and reaching its zenith in December du ring the Christmas holiday season, holding weather constant. The same pattern of sympathy was revealed in the newspaper coverage of famine. Thus, the data support, both directly and indirectly, our contention t hat sympathy is not only temporally variable, but is also culturally p atterned.