Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In cultural anthropology, reciprocity refers to the non-market exchange of goods or labour ranging from direct barter (immediate exchange) to forms of gift exchange where a return is eventually expected (delayed exchange) as in the exchange of birthday gifts. It is thus distinct from the true gift, where no return is expected.
For the most part, studies in economic anthropology focus on exchange. Post-World War II, economic anthropology was highly influenced by the work of economic historian Karl Polanyi. Polanyi drew on anthropological studies to argue that true market exchange was limited to a restricted number of western, industrial societies.
Market or negative reciprocity is the exchange of goods and services where each party intends to profit from the exchange, often at the expense of the other. Gift economies, or generalized reciprocity, occurred within closely knit kin groups, and the more distant the exchange partner, the more balanced or negative the exchange became.
Similarly, Clifford Geertz's model of "dual economy" in Indonesia [3] and James C. Scott's model of "moral economy" [4] hypothesized different exchange spheres emerging in societies newly integrated into the market; both hypothesized a continuing culturally ordered "traditional" exchange sphere resistant to the market. Geertz used the sphere to ...
The Gift has been very influential in anthropology, [3] where there is a large field of study devoted to reciprocity and exchange. [4] It has also influenced philosophers, artists, and political activists, including Georges Bataille, Jacques Derrida, Jean Baudrillard, and more recently the work of David Graeber and the theologians John Milbank and Jean-Luc Marion.
In modern mixed market economies, the central form of redistribution is facilitated through taxation by the state. Redistribution of property therefore occurs where properties are allocated back to individuals or groups within society either through the provision of public services or directly through welfare benefits .
Reciprocity is a dyadic exchange relationship that can be characterized, imprecisely, as gift-giving. Moka exchange is between two individuals, each of whom aims to give more than they receive. It is thus unlike profit seeking, though that does not make it a gift in the standard sense of the word. Moka exchange is not altruistic.
[40] In her summary of gifting, Lisa Cliggett concurs: "gift giving is a good way to see all the various aspects of human nature in action at one time because gifts can be simultaneously understood as rational exchange, as a way to build political and social relations, and as expressions of moral ideas and cultural meanings" [41] These insights ...