Anthropological Analysis Of Gift Exchange

The purpose of this assignment is to provide an anthropological analysis of objects, emphasising on the way gifts and commodities can be embedded within and help define social relations and highlighting the political and economic process in the transformation of things into gifts and commodities, taking into account alienability. It reflects the interactions between people and objects, and how humans use objects to construct their identities and communicate their position in social hierarchy, through (i) reciprocity and exchange (ii) identity and hierarchy (in no particular order).

Questions have arisen as to whether gift exchange ie “give –receive –reciprocate” plays a major role in today’s society, and, if commodities are a central feature