Gifts, Exchange and Reciprocity

Abstract

The definition of wealth has changed over time - for 19c it was commodities, for 20c it was goods for economists, while for anthropologists it has been gifts and reciprocity - the social relationships (911). So let's investigate: 1. Commodities as wealth: value of commodity stems from Aristotelian idea of product having two distinct values - use and exchange - as explored by Marx. He saw the growth of commodity exchange as a cellular growth with greater complexity over time (912-913). As the labour value moves away from the simple feudal system (necessary vs surplus labour) then to opposition between wage-labour and capital (914-915). 2. Goods as wealth: use-values refers to objective properties of things - the discovery of photography, for example, led to new use-values for silver for that as well as store of value, jewellery, cutlery etc. Utility, by contrast, is the subjective preferences of the individual consumer (915). The fact that wealth makes you feel good is because it is scarce (think of award for merit if everyone gets one) that is marginal utility theory in economics (water vs diamonds) - and you could use marginal utility to think about kula rings - made of common shells, yet kula are rare (916). 3. Gifts as Wealth: Campbell (1983) looked at Trobriander armshells (mwari) - five named categories - top shells (mwarikau) have personal names and histories, and are big with red striations; the shells of lowest category (gibwagibwa) have no names/histories and are white, unpolished and small - ranking system is ordinal (specified position in a numbered series) rather than cardinal (a principal number - how many) (so 3 shells versus my third shell type). Another example is the Tiv of Nigeria, who have objects in three spheres - first, lowest sphere, is yiagh (locally produced foodstuffs, tools and raw materials, then shagba (carry some prestige) - independent of markets and then third, supreme is slaves, cattle, horses, brass rods and also rights in human beings (women and children) (918-919). Mauss looked at this value of exchange by asking how a gift has the x amount of obligation to pay it back - an inherent power relation (919-920). Polanyi would note the great divide in human economies - on the one side is the self-regulating market, on the other economies based on principles of reciprocity, redistribution and householding (921-922). Is it giving or losing - building relationships of inter-dependency or is it losing by outsiders taking? (923-924). -Barter and other forms of counter-trade: for classical and neo-classical economists barter is the start of all exchange; Malinowski (1922) would determine seven types of exchange among the Trobriand islanders; Godelier (1977) would look at how the Baruya of New Guinea produced sweet potatoes but also vegetable salt as prestige item - 1 bar of salt (2kg) for 6 bark cloths from Youndouye neighbours - 1.5 days vs 4 days labour - but both feel okay if get what they want (929-930). -Market place trade: commodities can be vertical (will sell elsewhere) or downward mobile (will consume locally) - horizontal commodities move across a limited local space (932). Trade can be carried out by fixed merchants in locations or by more mobile traders and pedlars (some, like one fellow in India, would sell at home, then go to another town and sell, then another, around and around (933).