WEBVTT

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This holiday season,

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people around the world will give
and receive presents.

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You might even get 
a knitted sweater from an aunt.

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But what if instead of saying "thanks"
before consigning it to the closet,

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the polite response expected from you

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was to show up to her house 
in a week with a better gift?

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Or to vote for her in the town election?

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Or let her adopt your first born child?

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All of these things might not 
sound so strange

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if you are involved in a gift economy.

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This phrase might seem contradictory.

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After all, isn't a gift given for free?

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But in a gift economy,
gifts given without explicit conditions

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are used to foster a system
of social ties and obligations.

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While the market economies we know 
are formed by relationships

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between the things being traded,

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a gift economy consists 
of the relationships

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between the people doing the trading.

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Gift economies have existed 
throughout human history.

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The first studies of the concept

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came from anthropologists 
Bronislaw Malinowski and Marcel Mauss

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who describe the natives 
of the Trobriand islands

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making dangerous canoe journeys 
across miles of ocean

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to exchange shell necklaces
and arm bands.

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The items traded through this process,
known as the Kula Ring,

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have no practical use,

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but derive importance 
from their original owners

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and carry an obligation 
to continue the exchange.

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Other gift economies 
may involve useful items,

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such as potlatch feast 
of the Pacific Northwest,

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where chiefs compete for prestige 
by giving away livestock and blankets.

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We might say that instead 
of accumulating material wealth,

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participants in a gift economy 
use it to accumulate social wealth.

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Though some instances of gift economies
may resemble barter,

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the difference is that the original gift 
is given without any preconditions

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or haggling.

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Instead, the social norm of reciprocity

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obligates recipients to voluntarily 
return the favor.

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But the rules for how and when to do so 
vary between cultures,

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and the return on a gift 
can take many forms.

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A powerful chief giving 
livestock to a poor man

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may not expect goods in return,

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but gains social prestige 
at the debtor's expense.

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And among the Toraja people of Indonesia,

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the status gained from gift ceremonies 
even determines land ownership.

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The key is to keep the gift cycle going,

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with someone always 
indebted to someone else.

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Repaying a gift immediately,

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or with something of exactly equal value,

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may be read as ending 
the social relationship.

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So, are gift economies exclusive 
to small-scale societies

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outside the industrialized world?

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Not quite.

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For one thing, even in these cultures,

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gift economies function alongside 
a market system for other exchanges.

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And when we think about it,

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parts of our own societies 
work in similar ways.

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Communal spaces, such as Burning Man,

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operate as a mix of barter 
and a gift economy,

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where selling things 
for money is strictly taboo.

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In art and technology,

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gift economies are emerging 
as an alternative to intellectual property

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where artists,

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musicians,

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and open-source developers

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distribute their creative works, 
not for financial profit,

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but to raise their social profile 
or establish their community role.

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And even potluck dinners 
and holiday gift traditions

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involve some degree 
of reciprocity and social norms.

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We might wonder if a gift is truly a gift

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if it comes with obligations 
or involves some social pay off.

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But this is missing the point.

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Out idea of a free gift 
without social obligations

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prevails only if we already think 
of everything in market terms.

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And in a commericalized world,

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the idea of strengthening bonds 
through giving and reciprocity

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may not be such a bad thing,
wherever you may live.