The following is a quote from a book chapter entitled “The gift and the gift economy” written by the anthropologist Yunxiang Yan from A Handbook of Economic Anthropology, Second Edition, edited by James G. Carrier (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2014, pp. 275-290).
Carrier argues that the ideology of the perfect gift in the West is shaped by the rise of industrial capitalism. Free and disinterested givers and recipients who transact unobligating expressions of affection come into cultural existence with the shift of production of the affective and substantial relations that exist in the household to the impersonal relations of wage labor and capital (Carrier 1990: 31). The ideology of the pure gift prevailing in American society is based on two popular conceptions: the gift is immaterial and its material value is beside the point; and the gift is unconstrained and unconstraining it is a pure expression from the heart that does not bind giver and recipient (1990:20-21). This ideology, however, does not always accord with everyday practices, for the gifts often are predictable and regulated socially . Thus, the gift relations characterised by Mauss for traditional societies also exist in capitalist societies (Yan 2005: 257).[1]
This quote contrasts two different visions of the meaning of a gift. Write a 1000-word reflexive essay in which you use your own experience of Christmas or a major calendrical ritual or festival from your culture in which gift giving is an important part, along with ideas discussed in the required readings, the video on the Potlatch, and the video lectures for this module to take a position in this debate. Are gifts in major rituals such as Christmas constrained by social and cultural expectations or unconstrained expressions from the heart that do not bind giver and receiver?
Essays must:
Demonstrate an understanding of at least one of the ideas or issues discussed in each of the required reading.
Demonstrate how the example or examples from your experience demonstrate or refute the arguments about gifts and the gift economy reflected in the question and the required reading.
Demonstrate an understanding of how to construct an argument in a logical fashion.
Be free of grammatical, typographical or other errors.
Be consistent with the rules regarding academic integrity.
Be double-spaced, use times new roman 12-point text, and have all margins set to 2.54 centimeters (1 inch). Note: Essays that are not in the proper format will not be accepted.
Be properly referenced using the in-text name, date system.
ONLY USE THESE REFERENCES:
Carrier, James. 1993. The rituals of Christmas giving. In Unwrapping Christmas. Edited by Daniel Miller. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 54-74.
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