What can the exchange of gifts tell us about society?

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What can the exchange of gifts tell us about society?

The exchange of gifts is highly useful for anthologists in understanding the principles of a particular society. This is because gift exchange is not merely the movement of objects from one person to another, but it is an integral constituent of a society and plays an important role in creating and maintaining social hierarchy. Furthermore, understanding symbolism behind gift exchange gives us a valuable insight to the workings and motivations of the society as a whole.  It is important to recognise that exchange of gifts is a universal occurrence; no known human population consumes the entirety of their output with no form of exchanges. This universality of exchange means that all systems of gift exchange are a principle aspect of life and indeed society, and can thus be compared across differing societies and cultures. In this essay I shall discuss various examples of ‘primitive’, or rather traditional, societies which are underpinned by particular gift exchange systems, such as the Trobriand Islanders in New Guinea, how these systems of gift exchange fundamentally affect and in many cases control such societies, and whether these anthropological studies have an explanatory value. In addition I will examine Mauss’ description of the process of exchange and suggest that the ‘rules of reciprocity’, underlined by Mauss, apply to our modern society to the same extent that they do for traditional societies.

Firstly I shall explore the work of Malinowski and his studies into the exchange systems in the Trobriand Islands.  The Trobriand Islands are made up of a flat coral island which is about 30 miles long surrounded by numerous smaller islands. The villages are scattered along the western coast and in the centre. It is important to note that no village has access to all the necessities of its population and nowhere in these islands can one obtain essential materials such as bamboo or greenstone which is used in the blades of axes. Additionally, many of the villages are highly specialised, with the northern villages specialising in agriculture and the western coast villages specialising in fishing. For this reason, exchange systems are an important aspect of the Trobriand society. This system of exchange fundamentally affects their society; it leads to the organisation of agricultural work whereby members of several households will pool their labour collectively. This form of communal labour is based on reciprocity; the household whose tasks are being completed collectively will provide food for the workers as repayment. Another example of this communal labour based on reciprocity is where a person commands kin members to work for them, and in return he disseminates food. This is known as kabutu labour. Kabutu is also used by leaders to command a sizable work force in order to undertake large scale projects from which he derives prestige. This highlights that the Trobriand society is underpinned by systems of exchange, which are in many cases based on food.

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However, Malinowksi highlights that this form of exchange is merely a secondary exchange system to that of Kula which effectively influences every aspect of Trobriand life.  He describes the Kula as ‘a form of exchange, of extensive, inter-tribal character; carried on by communities inhabiting a wide range of islands, forming a closed circuit.’ The exchange of items forms what is known as the Kula ring which spans 18 island communities of the Massim archipelago (including the Trobriand Islands), involving thousands of people. The Trobriander society is based upon this system of exchange, Kula, and have eighty different forms of ...

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