ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some of theories concerning the origins of giving behaviour and explores rational choice theory as a useful tool for examining voluntarism. It considers some attempts to explain altruism and benevolence as well and examines some of their general features. Sociobiology and classical microeconomics both depend on strict self-interest to explain human behaviour and thus they attempt to explain altruism using self-interest. The school is a rational modern corporate actor that facing discrepancy between the resources it receives and the resources it requires. Individual administrators act to communicate the school's interests to prospective volunteers, partly by emphasizing the three incentives to give. In a world in which all acts are rational, even behaviour based upon malice and hatred must be explained from the point of view of the rational individual actor. Voluntary public schools make welcome persons of disparate backgrounds of wealth and culture, largely overcoming barriers of low income, language, and tradition.
