Reciprocity, Redistribution, and the Gift
Key concepts from Mauss and Sahlins on gift exchange, reciprocity, and how markets differ.
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Questions Covered in This Set
10 cards to master
Who wrote *Essai sur le don* (*The Gift*), and when?
Marcel Mauss, in 1925. He asked what power in the given object compels the recipient to repay it.
What are Mauss's three linked obligations of gift exchange?
The obligation to give, to receive, and to repay. Refusing any one of them is a hostile act.
What is a 'total prestation'?
An exchange that is simultaneously economic, legal, religious, political, and aesthetic — the 'economy' cannot be separated out as its own sphere.
Describe the Kula ring.
In the Trobriand Islands (described by Malinowski), men voyage by canoe to exchange shell necklaces (soulava) clockwise and armshells (mwali) counterclockwise; what really circulates is renown, not goods for consumption.
What is *gimwali*, and why does it matter?
Ordinary haggling trade that occurs alongside the Kula. Trobrianders scorn anyone who haggles in a Kula transaction, showing gift and market spheres are distinguished locally.
What was the potlatch, and what happened to it?
Northwest Coast feasts (e.g., Kwakwaka'wakw) where chiefs distributed or destroyed blankets, coppers, and canoes; rank was validated by capacity to give away. Banned in Canada 1885–1951.
What is the Maori *hau*?
The 'spirit of the gift' that wants to return to its origin. Sahlins argued Mauss mistranslated it, but the point holds: the gift is never fully alienated from the giver.
How does a commodity differ from a gift?
A commodity is alienated — payment closes the relationship (a relation between things). A gift stays entangled with the giver and leaves the relationship deliberately open (a relation between persons).
Define generalized reciprocity.
Giving with no stipulated return, time, or value accounting — parents feeding children, meat sharing in a band. Keeping score is an insult.
Define balanced and negative reciprocity.
Balanced: a direct, roughly equivalent return within a set period (trade partners, buying your round). Negative: trying to get something for nothing (haggling, sharp dealing, theft, raiding).
