Economic Anthropology: Gift Exchange and Societies

Extract

[...] It is at this time that the market is regulated by political powers, it then becomes self-regulating. Polanyi will study the principle of redistribution by going to Mesopotamia to understand how ancient societies functioned. Reciprocity is not the first form of integration, it is not based only on production, contrary to what the formalists think. For them, the economy is universal, Robbins describes them as the study of 'human behavior as a relation between ends and scarce means that have alternative uses'. (1935). [...]

[...] Economic Anthropology - Marshall Sahlins, Karl Polanyi and Marcel Mauss Why does Marshall Sahlins consider societies with bands as the only societies of abundance? What does his theoretical approach oppose? Marshall Sahlins is part of the substantivist school (more precisely the Marxist school), meaning he includes in the definition of Godelier's economic anthropology: production, circulation, and consumption (in the reproduction of a society). For him, production plays an important role in societies with bands. In fact, in a lineage society (we descend from the same ancestor), that is, a society in bands, the peculiarity is that they are more egalitarian, with a simple division of labor and teamwork, as well as cooperation among members. [...]

[...] Many authors have focused on the question and the study of these non-stratified societies is a way for them to try to understand the state of survival in market societies. This will also inspire modern societies to find new alternatives to improve living conditions. The book by Marcel Mauss and the establishment of new social structures are closely linked. This is also a way to put the gift and the market in opposition. However, without the work of Mauss and the authors who took up his thesis, economic anthropology would not have as much information about the study of market societies as we have today. [...]

[...] Other authors and schools have worked on the gift exchange. For Franz Boas (the first to speak of the potlatch in North American societies, the kwakiutl), the potlatch is a system of loan with interest, he sees this as an economic act, as long as the other has not given, he is "the obliged" of the first. Schulte-Tenckhoff will contradict him by stating that it is not an economic act. For Meillassoux, the gift against gift is a principle of reciprocity, but does not guarantee equality in the exchange. [...]

[...] Question of composition : In his Essay on the Gift, Marcel Mauss indicates that the gift-exchange he discusses also exists, as a survival, in our market society. Deepen this proposition based on concrete examples and then discuss it by comparing your examples to the different forms of gift-exchange studied in this course. Refer to the interpretations of the different authors who have dealt with the question of the gift to highlight the similarities and differences between these ethnographic examples and your examples. [...]