Preview

Modes of Exchange. Anthropalogical Recirocity

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
540 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Modes of Exchange. Anthropalogical Recirocity
QUESTION; what are the differences between general and balanced reciprocity. How do both play a part in society? When talking about reciprocity as an anthropological mode of exchange it is necessary to divide reciprocity into three subcategories. These subcategories are generalized reciprocity, balanced reciprocity, and finally negative reciprocity. In this paper I will be discussing the differences between general reciprocity and balanced reciprocity. As well as the role they play in today’s society. General reciprocity is defined as an exchange where a person gives a good or a service to someone else, but does not receive anything back at that time. The expectation is that, if and when the recipient has something, that person will give goods or services back to the original giver. With no set date or time of repayment. Along with this, often times there are no discussions about what the value or return must be for the exchange. This means that the time and value of repayment is left to the recipient to decide. Often times this act is referred to as gift giving and paying it forward. This style of reciprocity strongly relies on trust and faith. In society this form of reciprocity has been widely use to gain good standing within a social community, building trust and friendship within. Sometimes politically driven general Reciprocity can be used to gain positive public relations in order to accomplish a goal within the community, such as leadership or other high standing position within a society. Balanced or symmetrical reciprocity is described as the exchange of services or goods with the expectation of a fair and tangible return - at a specified amount, time, and place. As with generalized reciprocity, in balanced reciprocity the original giver must also hold a certain level of trust with the recipient, that the recipient will repay the original giver at the specified time with an adequate payment. However unlike generalized reciprocity which are often

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    One is giving something in order to receive in exchange something else that is needed or wanted. Example being with the Inuit Culture, they are so grateful that the seals are letting themselves be caught in order for the people to eat. In exchange, the humans will give them fresh water before being cut open so that the seal will return in exchange. All of the Inuit Culture does this as a social relationship rule, they give themselves to the people and the people honor them. They believe in the super natural power or animals coming back again and again if honor is brought to each…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Social Exchange Theory has strong roots in the fields of economics, sociology and psychology. From a historical perspective, early psychologists focused on the principles of reinforcement, functionalism, and utilitarianism. In fact, the famous French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss incorporated the important ethnographic principles of gift exchange and kinship systems into the theory of social exchange. Interestingly…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Social Exchange Theory explores interactions between two parties by examining the costs and benefits to each. The theory proposed by Homans in 1958 is not exclusively applied to relationships as it also explores all social systems and considers the power balance within those systems. The key point of the theory is that it assumes the two parties are both giving and receiving items of value from each other. Under this theory, relationships are only likely to continue if both parties feel they are coming out of the exchange with more than they are giving up–that is, if there is a positive amount of benefit for both parties involved.…

    • 2618 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    However this theory is limited as it doesn’t take into account that participants in relationships are often concerned with equity. For example Hays (1985) found that in student friendships that rewarding someone and being rewarded oneself were valued equally.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Business and Consumer Law

    • 17559 Words
    • 60 Pages

    Suppoted by mutual consideration: Each party must give something of value in exchange for the goods/ services it receives.…

    • 17559 Words
    • 60 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Human Services History

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How people help their neighbors through tragedies and circumstances will determine how that society will thrive. As Claude Levi Strauss said, “It is the principle of reciprocity that holds a society together”. People have been helping each other survive for hundreds of years. Humans brand an action as kind by its performance, consequences, and by the person 's intentions. Reciprocity is considered a determining factor of human behavior. Reciprocity is trading favors or making a negotiation or a contract with another person. With reciprocity, a small favor can produce a sense of obligation to a larger return favor. This feeling of obligation allows an action to be reciprocated with another action. However, there is a sense of future obligation with reciprocity. It can help develop and continue relationships with people. Reciprocity works because children are taught at a young age to be polite and return favors. We teach our youth to treat people the way we would want to be treated.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    case study week 5

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Social exchange theory is an economic model of human behavior used to explain how people arrive at decisions, posits that people seek the greatest amount of reward with the least amount of cost (Interpersonal Communication: Relating to others pg.267). Well the cost would be the relationship and the rewards would be the rewards you are gaining…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Principles of Care

    • 1759 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Fairness: An example of fairness would be while playing a game. It’s fair when everyone plays by the rules of the game. It’s unfair when someone cheats. When that person breaks the rules, it gives them an advantage over the other players. If a rule-breaker wins, it’s not a fair win. Everyone should have an equal chance.…

    • 1759 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Human Observation Project

    • 2537 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Prosocial behavior refers to "voluntary actions that are intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals" (Eisenberg and Mussen 1989). This definition refers to consequences of the people who do the actions rather than the motivations behind those actions. These behaviors include a broad range of activities: sharing, comforting, rescuing, and helping. Though prosocial behavior can be confused with altruism, they are, in fact, two distinct concepts. Prosocial behavior refers to a pattern of activity, whereas, altruism is the motivation to help others out of pure regard for their needs rather than how the action will benefit oneself. A familiar example of altruism is when an individual makes an anonymous donation to a person, group or institution without any resulting recognition, political or economic gain; here, the donation is the prosocial action and the altruism is what motivates the doer to action.…

    • 2537 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Holmes, J.G. (1981). The exchange process in close relationships: Micro behavior and macro motives. In M.J. Lerner & S.C. Lerner (Eds.), the justice motive in social behavior (pp. 261–284). New York: Plenum.…

    • 303 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    • If we want others to worry about whether their treatment of us is right and just and fair, then we have to worry about our treatment to them – this is called reciprocity (exchange)…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Braun, V., Gavey, N., & McPhillips, K. (2003). The "fair deal"? Unpacking accounts of reciprocity in…

    • 13360 Words
    • 59 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summer Sociology Exam

    • 1161 Words
    • 5 Pages

    25. The norm of reciprocity is the expectation that people will return favors and strive to maintain a balance of obligation in social relationships.…

    • 1161 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Syracuse University. Parts of this article were presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, Massachusetts, April 1977. to exist when the perceived inputs and/or outcomes in an exchange relationship are psychologically inconsistent with the perceived inputs and/or outcomes of the referent [I]. As in the case of cognitive dissonance, when a person perceives inequity in a social exchange relationship, a motivation develops to restore equity or balance.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Inuit of the Artic

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    During times of food scarcity which happens occasional, the Inuit share foods with other households to avoid starvation which is referred to as generalized reciprocity, the exchanging of goods with no expectation for the immediate return of an item, things even out. (Nowark, B. & Laird (2010).…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics