Gift economy

A gift economy is an arrangement in which goods and services circulate through giving and reciprocal relationships rather than market exchange alone. Gifts can create obligations, status, solidarity, or long-term ties.

Reciprocity: A pattern of responding to another person's action with a corresponding action, often across time. Gifts commonly invite later returns, though repayment need not be immediate or equal.
Kula ring: A ceremonial exchange network among Trobriand Islanders involving red shell necklaces and white shell armbands. Its circulating valuables create relationships and prestige without functioning as ordinary commodities.
Market economy: An economic system in which prices and voluntary exchange coordinate much production and distribution. Market transactions usually specify equivalents and settle obligations at the point of exchange.
Marcel Mauss: A French sociologist and anthropologist whose 1925 essay examined obligations surrounding gifts. His account of giving, receiving, and reciprocating became a foundational analysis of gift exchange.
Social solidarity: The bonds and shared commitments that hold members of a group together. Mutual giving can make membership tangible through repeated acts of support.
Generalized reciprocity: A form of exchange in which people give without specifying when or from whom a return will come. It sustains sharing when participants trust that benefits will circulate through the group.
Potlatch: A ceremonial gathering among Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest involving feasting, giving, and status display. Hosts establish rank and obligations by distributing or destroying wealth.
Commodity: A good or service treated as interchangeable and produced or exchanged for use or sale. Gift relations can make an item's history and social ties matter more than interchangeability.
The Gift: Marcel Mauss's 1925 essay on gift exchange and the obligations to give, receive, and repay. It argues that gifts carry moral and social obligations rather than being free transfers.
Status: A person's or group's social standing relative to others. Unequal gifts can elevate donors and recipients in different ways.

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