Minh Hiền

GROUP Thu Hoài

MEMBERS Ngọc Diệp
Thu Chang
Phương Uyên

ECONOMIC
RELATIONSHIPS
 Economic
relationships
• Reciprocity

• Redistribution

• Market exchange

Karl Polanyi (1886-1964)

 When someone
gives you a present,
what do you do
after receiving it?
I. RECIPROCITY

• A non-market exchange between

two or more parties => for equal
(or nearly equal) benefit

• Cultural traditions decide:

+ the specific manner
+ occasion of exchange
+ types of the return gift
I. RECIPROCITY

Divided by 3 types:

• Balanced reciprocity

• Generalized reciprocity

• Negative reciprocity
I. RECIPROCITY
a. Balanced reciprocity

• "A form of reciprocity in which the giver expects a fair return at some later
time "
(Welsch & Vivanco)

• Example:
+Taking fruit/presents when having dinner in someone's house

+ Giving presents on birthdays

+ Buying drinks at a gathering of friends.

I. RECIPROCITY
b. Generalized reciprocity
• "A form of reciprocity in which gifts are given
freely without the expectation of return"
(Welsch & Vivanco)

• Often occurs among close kin or people having

very close ties

• Christmas is a part of the work of Generalized

reciprocity
I. RECIPROCITY
c. Negative reciprocity

• The giver attempts to get something more valuable

=> exchange in which both parties try to take advantage of the other.

• The most personalized type

• It could be bad or good depending on how people practice it.

II. Redistribution
Definition
Redistribution is a form of exchange in which goods
flow into a central place where they are sorted,
counted, and reallocated.
 Three motives in To gain or maintain a position of power
through a display of wealth and
redistributing income generosity.

To assure those who support the leadership an

To establish alliances with leaders of other
adequate standard of living by providing them
groups by hosting them at lavish parties
with desired goods.
and giving them valuable goods.
Spending wealth to gain
prestige

• Spend their large amount of money to impress other people and

increase prestige.
• Spend money on luxurious items to show wealth and high
social status. -> Conspicuous consumption
• People give their surplus property or money away to gain
prestige. -> Prestige economy
 Leveling
Benefits
mechanism
Leveling mechanism is the • Keep resources in circulation.
practice of pressuring the rich into
• Reduce social tensions among
sharing their wealth in their own relatives, neighbors, and others
community rather than hoarding it in the community.
or privately investing it
• Ensure that necessary services
elsewhere.
within the society are
→ Aims to make the society performed.
equal.
• Promote a collective sense of
togetherness.
Case study: Potlatch
How is it
organized?
- Feast
- Theatricality ceremony
• Song • Dance

• Mask
 speeches: tell
stories to
preserve
culture

spiritual ceremony:
express purposes of
the event
 Why did people potlatch?

- To follow the belief:

A rich and powerful person is someone who gives the most away

- To redistribute wealth, confering status and ranking upon individuals, kin

groups and clans

- To establish claims to names, powers and rights

What does potlatch mean
anthropologically?
- It shows the motive of the redistribution system.

leveling the equality of enhancing social

property distribution status in society

- It's an example of the gift economy.

III. MARKET
EXCHANGE
 Definition

• The buying & selling of commodities + sevices

• Under the principle of Demand and Supply

• A form of distribution - specialized location or institution

(marketplace)
 KEY ELEMENT
SOCIAL AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

• the sellers and buyers - personal relationships & social equals

• However, over a long period of time - knowing each other and interacting
more often.
=> Therefore, social bonds develop => facilitate market deals.

• In capital societies - friendship is not enough

=> Why formal devices including contracts and courts exist.
 The Development of
Market Exchange The emergence
The commercial of WWW
use of money in (1989)
Europe and Asia
The
widespread use
of money
After the arrival
of money
Before the birth
of money
 Example of Market

Canton Fair in China (2014)

Exchange
• World-famous trade fair held in the
spring and autumn seasons every year
since 1957 in Guangzhou.

• Exhibitors and buyers from almost 200

countries attend the trade fair to either
feature their products or purchase
goods.
 A typical
• Organized once every several days to exchange
"market day"
in Navrongo • Would not do exchange until the next market day
 RECIPROCITY
Wrap-up 1

2 REDISTRIBUTION

3 MARKET EXCHANGE
 REFERENCES
• Barone, F. (2020, July 31). Reciprocity & Exchange: The Kula Ring. Retrieved from Human Relations Area Files -
Cultural information for education and research website: https://hraf.yale.edu/teach-ehraf/reciprocity-exchange-the-kula-
ring/
• Canton Fair (China Import and Export Fair) - Biggest Trade Fair in China. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.chinadiscovery.com/guangdong/guangzhou/canton-fair.html
• Eller, J. D., & Routledge. (2016). Cultural anthropology : global forces, local lives (3rd ed.). London and New York:
Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.
• Haviland, W. A., Harald E L Prins, Walrath, D., & Mcbride, B. (2017). Anthropology : the human challenge (15th ed.).
Boston: Cengage Learning.
• Linda. (2017, January 12). The typical market day in my village! Retrieved from CBS Business School Navrongo
website: https://cbsnavrongo.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/the-typical-market-day-in-my-village/
• Miller, B. D. (2017). Cultural Anthropology (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson.
• O’Neil, D. (2008, December 20). Economic Systems: Distribution and Exchange. Retrieved from
https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/economy/econ_3.htm
• World Wide Web Foundation. (2018). History of the Web. Retrieved
from https://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/
Thank you for listening