UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI FAKULTETA ZA DRUŽBENE VEDE ANDREJ RUS FEATURES OF GIFT EXCHANGE IN MARKET ECONOMY LASTNOSTI EKONOMIJE DARU V TRŽNI EKONOMIJI DOKTORSKA DISERTACIJA DOCTORAL THESIS Mentor: prof. dr. Vesna V. Godina Somentor: prof. dr. Josephus D. M. Platenkamp LJUBLJANA, 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First I would like to thank my mentors dr. Vesna Godina and dr. Jos Platenkamp for their indispensable help and guidance. I would also like to thank to dr. Zlatko Jančič for his comments, which notably improved this thesis. I am also very grateful to Katja Vukčevič and Janez Kne for their really valuable ideas and suggestions in the process of conceiving this thesis. Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family: Darja, Katja and Arjan for their unconditional support and patience. IZJAVA O AVTORSTVU Spodaj podpisani Andrej Rus, z vpisno številko 21041310, Sem avtor doktorskega dela z naslovom: Features of gift exchange in market economy (Lastnosti ekonomije daru v tržni ekonomiji). S svojim podpisom zagotavljam, da: • je predložena doktorska disertacija izključno rezultat mojega raziskovalnega dela; • sem poskrbel, da so dela in mnenja drugih avtorjev oz. avtoric, ki jih uporabljam v predloženem delu, navedena oz. citirana v skladu s fakultetnimi navodili; • sem poskrbel, da so vsa dela in mnenja drugih avtorjev oz. avtoric navedena v seznamu virov, ki je sestavni element predloženega dela in je zapisan v skladu s fakultetnimi navodili; • sem pridobil vsa dovoljenja za uporabo avtorskih del, ki so v celoti prenesena v predloženo delo in sem to tudi jasno zapisal v predloženem delu; • se zavedam, da je plagiatorstvo – predstavljanje tujih del, bodisi v obliki citata bodisi v obliki skoraj dobesednega prafraziranja bodisi v grafični obliki, s katerim so tuje misli oz. ideje predstavljene kot moje lastne – kaznivo po zakonu (Zakon o avtorstvu in sorodnih pravicah, Uradni list RS št. 21/95), prekršek pa podleže tudi ukrepom Fakultete za družbene vede v skladu z njenimi pravili; • se zavedam posledic, ki jih dokazano plagiatorstvo lahko predstavlja za predloženo delo in za moj status na Fakulteti za družbene vede. V Ljubljani, dne________________ Podpis avtorja____________________________ TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................................... 1 LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... 12 LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. 13 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 14 1.1. Theoretical context ........................................................................................................ 14 1.2. Gift vs. commodity ........................................................................................................ 16 1.3. The research problem .................................................................................................... 16 1.4. The structure of the dissertation .................................................................................... 17 1.5. The research overview .................................................................................................. 18 1.6. The five sub-hypotheses ................................................................................................ 19 1.7. The research methods .................................................................................................... 19 1.8. Scientific relevance of the dissertation .......................................................................... 20 2. PART I: THEORETICAL CONTEXT ............................................................................ 21 2.1. Study of economic life in economic anthropology ....................................................... 21 2.1.1. A description of economic anthropology ............................................................... 21 2.1.2. Economic anthropology vs. economics .................................................................. 22 2.1.3. Historical perspective: substantiavism vs. formalism ............................................ 28 2.1.4. Economic anthropology after the substantivists-formalists debate ........................ 38 2.1.5. Contemporary issues .............................................................................................. 40 2.2. Market economy and gift economy ............................................................................... 42 2.2.1. Market economy ..................................................................................................... 42 2.2.1.1. Basic characteristics of the market economy .................................................. 42 2.2.1.2. A historical perspective: from the gift economy to the market economy ....... 43 2.2.1.3. Classical economics ........................................................................................ 47 2.2.1.4. Neoclassical economics and rational choice theory ........................................ 48 2.2.1.5. Some criticisms of the Homo oeconomicus model ......................................... 52 2.2.2. The gift economy ................................................................................................... 56 2.2.2.1. Basic characteristics of the gift economy ........................................................ 56 2.2.2.2. Economic analysis of gift exchange ................................................................ 57 2.2.2.3. Anthropological analysis of gift exchange ...................................................... 59 2.2.2.3.1. Marcel Mauss ........................................................................................... 59 2.2.2.3.2. Chris A. Gregory ...................................................................................... 64 2.2.2.3.3. Other scholars ........................................................................................... 66 2.2.2.4. Gift and reciprocity ......................................................................................... 68 2.2.2.4.1. Models of reciprocity ............................................................................... 68 2.2.2.4.2. What is reciprocity ................................................................................... 71 2.2.2.4.3. Generalised, balanced and negative reciprocity ....................................... 74 2.2.2.4.4. Evolutionary explanations of reciprocity ................................................. 77 2.2.2.5. Gift exchange in modern societies .................................................................. 82 2.2.3. The ‘market economy’ vs. ‘gift economy’ debate ................................................. 87 2.2.3.1. Market exchange vs. gift exchange ................................................................. 87 2.2.3.2. Some criticisms of the gift-market dichotomy ................................................ 87 2.2.3.3. Gift exchange as calculative process ............................................................... 90 2.2.3.3.1. Criticisms ................................................................................................. 94 2.2.3.4. Integrating gift and commodity exchanges into a single social process ......... 95 2.2.4. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 97 3. PART II: THE RESEARCH ........................................................................................... 100 3.1. Defining and operationalising the research question .................................................. 100 3.1.1. The basis of my research question ....................................................................... 100 3.1.2. The research question ........................................................................................... 107 3.1.3. The concepts pertaining to the research question ................................................. 108 3.1.4. The indicators of gift exchange and market exchange ......................................... 109 3.1.5. The hypothesis ...................................................................................................... 112 3.1.5.1. The null hypothesis ....................................................................................... 112 3.1.5.2. The research hypothesis ................................................................................ 112 3.1.5.3. The five sub-hypotheses ................................................................................ 112 3.2. Description of research methods ................................................................................. 113 3.2.1. Area and focus of my research ............................................................................. 113 3.2.2. On the methods used for my research .................................................................. 113 3.2.2.1. Text analysis .................................................................................................. 115 3.2.2.2. Case study method ........................................................................................ 118 3.3. Textual analysis ........................................................................................................... 120 3.3.1. The first sub-hypothesis: creating relationships