An Alternative Approach to Reciprocity¹

Abstract

Reciprocity is defined as a subset o f exchange characterized by inseparability of the

Stability Constrains How Populations Spread Risk in a Model of Food Exchange

“…For example, Sahlins's balanced reciprocity closely mirrors Polanyi's pre-market ''reciprocity'' and Fiske's ''equality matching.'' 39,44 In addition to the precise categorization, the interpretations of these categories have also been extensively critiquede.g., there is evidence disputing the influence of kinship distance on exchange type, one of Sahlins's original arguments for this classification, 45,46 and there is debate in general over what we can infer about the human motivations leading to any one particular form of exchange. 39 However, even if the precise structure of networks of human food exchange (as well as the driving forces that underly it) remains the subject of debate, it seems clear that there are consistent patterns in the ways that humans have exchanged food.…”

A Wonderful Linkage of Beings: Hierarchy and the Cultural Instruments of Social Organization in Elizabethan England

“…Exchange has long been seen as an instrument of social intégration, as a means of "securing or of displaying the interlocking of social groups" (Lévi-Strauss, 1966: 109). There is by now a substantial literature that demonstrates how frequently human communities hâve resorted to this instrument to bring unity to otherwise fractious body politics (Ernest, 1978;Gouldner, 1960;Lebra, 1975;Lévi-Strauss, 1976;Marriot, 1968;Mauss, 1970;Paine, 1976;Schwimmer, 1974;Sillitoe, 1979).' Indeed at first blush, the movement of greetings between subordinate and superordinate parties appears to be "standard issue" cultural practice and an unexceptional example of a well known, much documented ethnographie phenomenon.…”

Mediating and getting ‘burnt’ in the gap: Politics and brokerage in a Recife slum, Brazil

“…In these clientelist politics, the existence of brokers is often explained by the benefits they bring for clients, patrons and for the brokers themselves (Bailey, 1969; Gay, 1990; Lebra, 1975). They have an ability to create and maintain contacts for the purpose of accessing resources (Boissevain, 1974).…”