Social solidarity in practice

Abstract

When the idea of this dissertation started to develop, my interest was to find out if at the present time, the Maltese are helpful to one another. From my experience, I have learned that things are not exactly as they seem. At the beginning of the study, I believed that generally peoplP. nre self-centered. When they do something for the benefit of other people, their intention is that of gaining something for themselves. The dissertation was built upon this assumption. It must be mentioned that while I carried out this research and analysed the findings, I did my best as a sociology student not to be biased by my own ideas. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the standpoint of undergraduate students from the Faculty of Arts, mainly through a questionnaire on subjects of charity and social solidarity. The social change that is rapidly mounting in Malta results in change of values. This means that values linked to solidarity and related issues are being affected. This theme is one which is not easily calculated and analysed. Although solidarity is visible to an extent, precise measures cannot always be taken.