Exchange And Reciprocity

Question 1

Define ‘reciprocity’ (2 + 1 bonus)

Answer 1

The obligation to give to give someone something in exchange for something else

Eg. Present swapping

Sahlins categorised it into three types:

Generalised
Balanced
Negative

Question 2

Define ‘balanced reciprocity’ (2)

Answer 2

The exchange of goods or services of perceived equal worth are exchanged between two parties with little or no delay.

Eg. A wedding ring

Question 3

Define ‘negative reciprocity’ (2)

Answer 3

Where one party has the motive to exploit the other during an exchange.

Eg. Selling 2nd hand goods as new on eBay

Question 4

What are the 3 functions of exchange? (3)

Answer 4

To distribute resources within a society

To build or strengthen social/kin relations

To display or maintain political power

Question 5

Sahlins argued that the type of exchange used is determined by what? (1)

Answer 5

The social distance between individuals

Question 6

What’s the primary way that material goods are circulated and shared within a society? (1)

Answer 6

Exchange and distribution

Question 7

What did Karl polanhi argue were the 3 forms of distribution used predominantly in societies? (3)

Answer 7

Reciprocity

Redistribution

Market exchange

Question 8

Define ‘redistribution’ (2)

Answer 8

Where wealth is collected by a central person, group, or institution who then gives it back to people who need it or spends it in a way that benefits everyone.

Eg. Big men in Melanesia, yam exchange in the trobriand Islands, the potlatch in North America

Question 9

Define ‘market exchange’ (2 + 1 bonus)

Answer 9

There’s a specialised institution (the market) in which people exchange goods or symbols of wealth (money) based on profit determined by supply and demand.

Eg. Most of the modern world businesses

Social relations are much less important or sometimes insignificant in this exchange.

Question 10

Define ‘exchange’ (2 + 1 bonus)

Answer 10

The giving of something in return for something else.

For example material goods (such as presents and money), communication or even war.

Bonus: All societies have a system of exchange

Question 11

Which anthropologist studied yams in the trobriand Islands? (1)

Answer 11

Malinowski

Question 12

How many yams do the trobriand Islanders produce? (1)

Answer 12

Twice as much as they can eat

Question 13

Name 3 occasions when yams are given (3)

Answer 13

In tribute to the chief

To the chief sister’s or mother’s family

At the next harvest and every harvest thereafter, by a girls family after she married