We are said to be suffering a narcissism epidemic when the need for collective action seems more pressing than ever. Selfishness and selflessness address the ‘proper’ and ‘improper’ relationship between one’s self and others.

List of Illustrations, Figures and Tables Acknowledgements Introduction: Self, Selfish, Selfless Linda L. Layne Chapter 1. Taking the Measure of ‘Selfishness’ and ‘Selflessness’ in the Early Twenty-First-Century US and UK Linda L. Layne Chapter 2. ‘Sentiment Has Struggled with Selfishness’: Selfishness, Sensibility and Gender in the Late Eighteenth-Century British Antislavery Campaign G.J. Barker-Benfield Chapter 3. Selfless Advocacy? Profeminist Men’s Movements in Late Twentieth-Century Britain Lucy Delap Chapter 4. ‘Doing the Right Thing for My Child’: Self Work and Selflessness in Accounts of British ‘Full-Term’ Breastfeeding Mothers Charlotte Faircloth Chapter 5. Sexism, Separatism and the Rhetoric of Selfishness: Single Mothers by Choice in the US and UK Susanna Graham and Linda L. Layne Chapter 6. Selfish Masturbators? The Experience of Danish Sperm Donors and Alternatives to the Selfish/Selfless Divide Sebastian Mohr Chapter 7. Inroads into Altruism Marilyn Strathern Chapter 8. On Being Selfish – Or Not: Explorations of an Idea from the Mountains of Oaxaca and the Alaskan Tundra Barbara Bodenhorn Conclusion: Starting Points: Modest Contributions to the History and Anthropology of Moralities and Ethics Linda L. Layne Index

“This is a fascinating and timely collection that throws a much-needed light on the idea and practice of selfishness and selflessness. In so doing, it follows the moral turn in the humanities and the social sciences to its logical conclusion: the writing of a social history and an ethnography of moralities.” • Mark Roodhouse, University of York