Gift economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy Gift economy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Derived from the anthropological study of gift exchange, a gift economy (or gift culture ) is a mode of exchange that contrasts to market or commodity exchange. In principle, voluntary and recurring gift exchange both creates and circulates wealth and consumption goods and builds a community. [1] In contrast to a market economy, informal custom governs gift exchange, rather than negotiated pricing. [2] Societies dominated by gift exchange were small in scale and geographically remote from each other. As states formed to regulate trade and commerce within their boundaries, market exchange came Watercolor by James G. Swan to dominate. Nonetheless, the practice of gift exchange continues to depicting the Klallam people of chief Chetzemoka at Port Townsend, with play an important role in modern society. [3] One prominent example one of Chetzemoka's wives is science, which has been described as a gift economy. [4] distributing potlatch. The expansion of the Internet has witnessed a resurgence of the gift economy, especially in the technology sector. Engineers, scientists and software developers create open-source software projects. The Linux kernel and the GNU operating system are prototypical examples for the gift economy's prominence in the technology sector and its active role in instating the use of permissive free software and copyleft licenses, which allow free reuse of software and knowledge. Other examples include: file-sharing, the commons, open access. A Freebox in Berlin, Germany 2005, Contents serving as a distribution center for free donated materials 1 History 2 Characteristics 3 Examples 3.1 Pacific islanders 3.2 Papua New Guinea 3.3 Native Americans 3.4 Mexico 3.5 Spain 3.6 Information gift economies 3.6.1 Science 3.6.2 Filesharing 3.6.3 Open-source software 3.6.4 Wikipedia 3.7 Other examples 3.7.1 Burning Man 3.7.2 Blood donation 3.8 Religious gift giving 3.8.1 Buddhism 3.8.2 Hinduism 3.8.3 Islam 3.8.4 Judaism 1 of 10 2012/06/27 08:45 AM Gift economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy 4 Social theories 4.1 Mauss 4.2 Hyde 4.3 Kropotkin 4.4 Bell 5 In literature 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links History Contrary to popular conception, there is no evidence that societies relied primarily on barter before using money for trade. [5] Instead, non-monetary societies operated largely along the principles of gift economics and debt.[6][7] When barter did in fact occur, it was usually between either complete strangers or would-be enemies. [8] Lewis Hyde locates the origin of gift economies in the sharing of food, citing as an example the Trobriand Islander protocol of referring to a gift in the Kula exchange ring as "some food we could not eat," even though the gift is not food, but an ornament purposely made for passing as a gift. [9] The potlatch also originated as a 'big feed'. [10] Hyde argues that this led to a notion in many societies of the gift as something that must "perish". [citation needed ] The anthropologist Marshall Sahlins writes that Stone Age gift economies were, as evidenced by their nature as gift economies, economies of abundance, not scarcity, despite modern readers' typical assumption of abject poverty. [11] Gift economies were replaced by market economies based on commodity money, as the emergence of city states made money a necessity. [12] Characteristics A gift economy normally requires the gift exchange to be more than simply a back-and-forth between two individuals. For example, a Kashmiri tale tells of two Brahmin women who tried to fulfill their obligations for alms-giving simply by giving alms back and forth to one another. On their deaths they were transformed into two poisoned wells from which no one could drink, reflecting the barrenness of this weak simulacrum of giving. [13] This notion of expanding the circle can also be seen in societies where hunters give animals to priests, who sacrifice a portion to a deity (who, in turn, is expected to provide an abundant hunt). The hunters do not directly sacrifice to the deity themselves. [13] Many societies have strong prohibitions against turning gifts into trade or capital goods. Anthropologist Wendy James writes that among the Uduk people of northeast Africa there is a strong custom that any gift that crosses subclan boundaries must be consumed rather than invested. [14] For example, an animal given as a gift must be eaten, not bred. However, as in the example of the Trobriand armbands and necklaces, this "perishing" may not consist of consumption as such, but of the gift moving on. In other societies, it is a matter of giving some other gift, either directly in return or to another party. To keep the gift and not give another in exchange is reprehensible. "In folk tales," Hyde remarks, "the person who tries to hold onto a gift 2 of 10 2012/06/27 08:45 AM Gift economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy usually dies." [15 ] Carol Stack's All Our Kin describes both the positive and negative sides of a network of obligation and gratitude effectively constituting a gift economy. Her narrative of The Flats, a poor Chicago neighborhood, tells in passing the story of two sisters who each came into a small inheritance. One sister hoarded the inheritance and prospered materially for some time, but was alienated from the community. Her marriage ultimately broke up, and she integrated herself back into the community largely by giving gifts. The other sister fulfilled the community's expectations, but within six weeks had nothing material to show for the inheritance but a coat and a pair of shoes. [16] Examples Pacific islanders Pacific Island societies prior to the nineteenth century were dominated by gift exchange. [citation needed ] Gift-exchange still endures in parts of the Pacific today; for example, in some outer islands of the Cook Islands.[17] In Tokelau, despite the gradual appearance of a market economy, a form of gift economy remains through the practice of inati , the strictly egalitarian sharing of all food resources in each atoll.[18] On Anuta as well, a gift economy called "Aropa" still exists. [19] There are also a significant number of diasporic Pacific Islander communities in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States that still practice a form of gift economy. Although they have become participants in those countries' market economies, some seek to retain practices linked to an adapted form of gift economy, such as reciprocal gifts of money, or remittances back to their home community. The notion of reciprocal gifts is seen as essential to the fa'aSamoa ("Samoan way of life"), the anga fakatonga ("Tongan way of life"), and the culture of other diasporic Pacific communities. [20] Papua New Guinea The Kula ring still exists to this day, as do other exchange systems in the region, such as Moka exchange in the Mt. Hagen area, on Papua New Guinea. [citation needed ] Native Americans Native Americans who lived in the Pacific Northwest (primarily the Kwakiutl), practiced the potlatch ritual, where leaders give away large amounts of goods to their followers, strengthening group relations. By sacrificing accumulated wealth, a leader gained a position of honor. [citation needed ] Mexico In the Sierra Tarahumara of North Western Mexico, a custom exists called kórima. This custom says that it is one's duty to share his wealth with anyone. [21] Spain In place of a market, anarcho-communists, such as those who inhabited some Spanish villages in the 1930s, support a currency-less gift economy where goods and services are produced by workers and distributed in community stores where everyone (including the workers who produced them) is essentially entitled to consume whatever they want or need as payment for their production of goods and services. [22] 3 of 10 2012/06/27 08:45 AM Gift economy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy Information gift economies Information is particularly suited to gift economies, as information is a nonrival good and can be gifted at practically no cost. [23][24] Science Non-commercial scientific research is often considered to be a gift economy. Scientis ts who perform research and publish their findings in journals and talk about their work in conferences without remuneration. Though authors do not enjoy profits from publishing, subscribing to the journals themselves can be expensive and thus publishers limit access to these intended communal gifts of information. The open access movement makes research available online for far lower costs than traditional publishing. By avoiding prohibitively large subscription fees, this increases the circulation of knowledge and further draws it away from market exchange. Other scientists freely refer to other's research. Persons and institutions with access to these articles can therefore benefit from the increased pool of knowledge. The original scientists receive no direct benefit from making available their research, except an increase in their reputation. Failure to cite and give credit to original authors (thus depriving them of prestige due) is considered improper behavior. [25] Filesharing Markus Giesler in his ethnography Consumer Gift System , described music downloading as a system of social solidarity based on gift transactions. [26] As Internet access spread, file sharing became extremely popular among users who could contribute and receive files on line. This form of gift economy was a model for online services such as Napster, which focused on music sharing and was later sued for copyright infringement.