IJCH 2017 Vol.3(4): 219-226 ISSN: 2382-6177
doi: 10.18178/ijch.2017.3.4.103

Regional Patterns of Giving in the United States during the Great Recession

Jose Javier Lopez, Rama Prasada Mohapatra, and Paul Prew
Abstract—Recently, studies on regional patterns of caring, which includes philanthropic giving, are emerging in the social science and human geography literature. Our study examines the geographic patterns of giving in the U.S.A. during the late 2000s and early 2010s, and the association between giving and five social conditions: attendance to religious services, economic inequality, levels of happiness, age, and percentage of minority population. This research aims to look at these issues in an interdisciplinary fashion by combining sociological insights with thematic mapping and human geography. We endeavor to add to the growing literature on the study of regional patterns of caring and philanthropic giving by asking the question, “can we discern regional patterns of philanthropic giving consistent with socioeconomic phenomena?” Our results demonstrate distinguishable geographic patterns of giving associated with the social conditions included here. Above average percentage of households’ income donated to charities is associated with regions of the United States with above average religious attendance, greater inequality, higher levels of unhappiness, and minority population.

Index Terms—Geography of caring, thematic mapping, philanthropic giving, religious service attendance.

Jose Javier Lopez, Rama Prasada Mohapatra are with the Department of Geography, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN 56001 USA (e-mail: jose.lopez@mnsu.edu, rama.mohapatra@mnsu.edu). Paul Prew is with the Department of Sociology and Corrections, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN 56001 USA (e-mail: paul.prew@mnsu.edu).

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Cite: Jose Javier Lopez, Rama Prasada Mohapatra, and Paul Prew, "Regional Patterns of Giving in the United States during the Great Recession," International Journal of Culture and History vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 219-226, 2017.

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