ANT 201 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Global Exchange, Marshall Sahlins
Document Summary
Processes in making a living (societal level: working to transform natural resources into useful products/services, someone consumes the products, material products exchanged. Distinguished by marshall sahlins : reciprocity: individuals/groups pass products back and forth. Goal - to help someone in need, create social relationships, or obtain products. Kind of reciprocity depends on social distance between them. As social relationships change, so does the kind of reciprocity between people. Generalized reciprocity: the giving of goods without expectation of a return of equal value at any definite future time. Example: parents who provide shelter/food for children. Balanced reciprocity: the exchange of goods considered to have roughly equal value; social purposes usually motivate the exchange. Transaction of material symbols (gifts) is a way of expressing positive social relationships. Negative reciprocity: exchange motivated by the desire to obtain goods, in which the parties try to gain all the material goods they can. Attempt to gain goods at low costs.
