The gift economy егэ ответы

The gift economy

The latest banking crisis again raised concerns that our economy is based too much on individual greed. Such an economic model, critics say, comes from a false understanding of human nature. Human society is not made up of individuals pursuing private gain through competition with each other. The real essence of human nature lies in the social bonds that we make through family, friendships, professional associations and local communities. These bonds produce a sense of common purpose and shared values, in which groups of people strive for the things that are for the common good: a sound education, a pleasant environment to live in, a healthy population. It is this idea of shared social interests that is at the heart of the gift economy.

Gift economies thrived in earlier times when people lived in a world of greater abundance and when their wants were fewer. Stone Age hunter-gatherers had shelter and enough food and did not need many possessions – a few weapons for hunting and clothing to keep warm. They helped each other by sharing food and tools without any expectation of payment or immediate reward. But this is not only an idea that applies to a more primitive way of life. There are also many recent examples of the gift economy at work.

In the past, American companies operating in Japan found it difficult to attract Japanese recruits, even though, compared with Japanese employers, they offered more generous wages, shorter work hours and better promotion prospects. But these factors were traditionally not so important to Japanese employees, who did not think of their services as being ‘bought’. Rather, they felt they were entering into a long-term gift exchange – relationship with their employer, which was of mutual benefit.

This relationship had many aspects. At its most basic it involved the simple exchange of physical gifts. For example, if the employee got married, the company sent a gift and even a departmental manager to represent it at the wedding. Another company gift which is still popular among Japanese employees is the yearly company vacation. On these organised weekends co-workers share dormitories, eat together and visit the same attractions, largely at the company’s expense.

For their part, the main gift given by the employees to their company is their hard work and this is why each Japanese employee gives such great attention to accuracy, quality in their work and promptness in its delivery. Even the simplest tasks are carried out with extraordinary care.

Elsewhere, the Internet is facilitating the re-emergence of the gift economy. Neighbourhood groups use online networks to share tools and skills. Someone who needs a long ladder to repair their roof does not need to go out and buy one; they simply put a message up on the neighbourhood discussion board and soon a neighbour will offer theirs. They will probably even help them with the repair, because helping and giving is part of human nature. Via the Internet, knowledge and advice can be shared on almost everything, from how a nuclear reactor works to how to plan your holiday or build your own canoe.

All this is very well, but these are hard times: helping our neighbour with his roof isn’t going to pay the bills, I hear you say. But in an indirect way it is. The point is that by stressing the cooperative side of human nature, the gift economy helps us all. It keeps in check the excesses of big commercial organisations that seek to exploit situations for their own gain. So the big supermarket chains must understand that it is in the common interest not to force small shopkeepers out of business. Big industrial farms must realise that they cannot go on intensively farming the land until there is nothing left in it. Other large companies should not always seek to drive the hardest bargain possible with their suppliers, but just pay them fairly. That is the real lesson of the gift economy.

1. According to the first paragraph the gift economy is based on
1) a loss of competition.
2) a personal greed.
3) a complete understanding of human nature.
4) a sense of common values.

2. Which of the following is NOT mentioned among the values people share?
1) clean environment.
2) good health.
3) being wealthy.
4) a high level of education.

3. In earlier times people needed
1) fewer belongings.
2) better clothes to keep warm.
3) less food.
4) a well-protected shelter.

4. From their employers the Japanese traditionally expect
1) to work shorter hours.
2) to be valued and respected.
3) to be well-paid.
4) to have strong career perspectives.

5. In Japan for the employees the companies may not offer
1) the yearly company vacation.
2) a gift for the wedding.
3) organised weekends.
4) bonuses for hard work.

6. In terms of gift economy the example of the Internet illustrates that people
1) do not have to pay for goods.
2) can freely share their opinions online.
3) the co-operative side of human nature.
4) prefer to find help in difficult situations.

7. The gift economy may lead to
1) better understanding of human nature.
2) better sales and profits.
3) mutual benefit among people.
4) increased pay-rise for employees.

Установите соответствие между заголовками 1–8 и текстами A–G. Запишите свои ответы в таблицу. Используйте каждую цифру только один раз. В задании есть один лишний заголовок.

1.  То play any tune

2.  A brand new shore museum

3.  Still moving along

4.  Back from the seas

5.  Not a bank but…

6.  Magic as attraction

7.  A museum of popular drinks

8.  One tool museum

A. The Salem Witch Museum brings you back to Salem of 1692 for a dramatic overview of the Witch Trials, including stage sets with life-size figures, lighting and a narration. There is also a possibility to go on a candlelight tour to four selected homes. The museum is open all year round and closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Salem is also famous for its Haunted Happenings, a 24-day Halloween festival.

B. The Discover Sea Shipwreck Museum opened its doors in 1995, and has one of the largest collections of shipwreck and recovered artifacts in the Mid-Atlantic. It contains about 10,000 artifacts from local and worldwide locations, including an intact blown-glass hourglass from a 200-year-old shipwreck, which is also the world’s deepest wooden wreck at the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.

C. The Seashore Trolley Museum is the oldest and largest electric railway museum in the world. It was founded in 1939 with one open trolley car, No. 31 from the Biddeford & Saco Railroad Company. The Seashore Trolley Museum contains over 250 transit vehicles, mostly trolleys, from the United States, Canada and abroad. Visitors can even take a trip along the Maine countryside aboard a restored early-1900s electric streetcar.

D. American Hop Museum is dedicated to the brewing industry and located in the heart of the Yakima Valley’s hop fields, which gather the best harvest for producing beer. It chronicles the American hop industry from the New England colonies to its expansion into California and the Pacific Northwest, and includes historical equipment, photos and artifacts that pay tribute to hop, the everlasting vine that is still an integral part of the brewing industry.

E. The Money Museum in Colorado Springs is America’s largest museum dedicated to numismatics (the study of collecting coins and metals). The collection contains over 250,000 items from the earliest invention of money to modern day, with items including paper money, coins, tokens, medals, and traditional money from all over the world. Highlights include the 1804 dollar, the 1913 V Nickel, the 1866 no motto series, a comprehensive collection of American gold coins, and experimental pattern coins and paper money.

F. The Kenneth G. Fiske Museum of Musical Instruments in California has one of the most diverse collections of musical instruments in the United States. This museum is home to over 1,400 American, European and ethnic instruments from the 17th-20th centuries. Selections from all parts of the world also include keyboards, brass, woodwind, stringed, percussion, mechanical and electronic instruments. Other highlights are rare pieces from the violin and viola families, reed organs and instruments from the Orient and Tibet.

G. The Hammer Museum in Alaska is the world’s first museum dedicated to hammers. The Museum provides a view of the past through the use of man’s first tool. You will find over 1500 hammers on display, ranging from ancient times to the present. The museum does not have any paid staff, and it is run by volunteers. This quaint and quirky museum is an interesting and informative stop for the whole family.

The gift economy refers to economic activity characterised by offering services and goods to other members of the community without the expectation of monetary reward. Giving things to other people may be based on pure altruism, a wish to gain status in society, the hope of reciprocal gifts in the future or out of a sense of mutual obligation.

A gift economy challenges conventional economics which assumes individuals are utility maximisers based on observable monetary gain.

Traditionally economics assumes households seek to maximise their economic welfare through increasing their income and then purchasing the optimal combination of goods assuming their budget. Classical economics assumes firms seek to maximise profit.
See: Rational choice theory 

The gift economy recognises that in the real world, this is only a partial understanding of what motivates individuals and communities. The gift economy places greater value on qualitative relationships between dependent people. The commodity economy places greater value on quantitive trade of goods.

Reasons for a gift economy

Why do individuals and society develop a gift economy?

Creates social bonds and trust. If we offer a service to a neighbour, we may feel that our neighbour will appreciate our effort and be more willing to return a favour in the future. If we charged for our service, we would feel more mercenary and the neighbour may not feel the need to return the favour. Anthropologist Marcel Mauss, who wrote ‘The Gift: Forms and Functions’ notes many examples of where reciprocal gift-giving is important for creating social bonds, trust and community.

Disequilibrium. Classical economics is concerned with market equilibrium and paying a price equal to the marginal cost of producing the good. Lewis Hyde in the 1983 book “The Gift” argues the purpose of the gift economy is to disrupt equilibrium but create a new sense of obligation and duties. So when we offer something for free – other people feel a sense of obligation and responsibility in return.

Long-term social relationships. In close-knit communities, the most valuable transactions are long-term and depend on reputation, trust and social perceptions. Giving gifts can help cement a person’s position in society and gain the trust and respect of others. To avoid your expected duty to give could harm your reputation, which could prove a high economic cost in the long-term.

“Gift exchange is an exchange of inalienable objects between people who are in a state of reciprocal dependence that establishes a qualitative relationship between the transactors.”

Chris Gregory, “Gifts and Commodities” (1982).

Societies where there is interdependency. Gift exchange economies are more likely to emerge in societies where people live in small and observable communities. In traditional village societies, if you break social norms you stand out. In a society of five million, it is much easier to be a ‘free-rider’ and avoid giving gifts because people won’t notice.

Pure altruism. If we see a member of the community in need, we may offer charitable aid, – even if it is anonymous – not because we expect something in return, but we feel it is a worthwhile and good thing to do. For example, if we saw a homeless person, we may take them into our house – even if it was inconvenient to ourselves.

Philanthropy as a way to boost reputation. In the nineteenth/twentieth century, those who became very rich, such as N. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie (famous philanthropists) began to give away large parts of their money. Philanthrophy may become a way to boost the reputation of those who give.

The joy of giving. A classical economists may suggest that if we get a great sense of satisfaction from doing the ‘right thing’ we are actually maximising our utility by offering a gift. Individuals do not just get utility from consuming goods and services. Some may get a higher utility from a sense of being selfless

Does modern society work against the gift economy?

Some anthropologists claim that a gift economy is quite common amongst a variety of developing societies, but it is the nature of modern economies to work against the bonds and pressures which promote a gift economy.

Factors which undermine the gift economy

• Breakdown of extended family. A gift economy is more likely to emerge where a significant proportion of transactions are amongst family members or close neighbours. In modern society, there is a greater turnover of relationships and less connection with neighbours and extended family.
• Size of cities. In a city of several million, it is easier to be a ‘free-rider‘ – there is less sense of dependence because if you give a gift to someone, you are unlikely to ever meet them again. Nevertheless, this issue can be overcome if local communities within a city develop a shared sense of identity.
• The prevalence of markets. When everything becomes commoditised it is harder to create a role for gift economies. If we become used to paying a monetary price or receiving payment, the idea of a gift economy becomes weaker. Michael Sanders in “The Moral Limits of Markets” argues that the prevalence of markets could undermine social issues. For example, paying people to queue on your behalf undermines a sense of fairness that everyone is in it together. Another example may be health insurance, where insurance companies have a financial incentive to make it difficult to claim the best health treatment – so we get the opposite of a gift economy.

Related

• Altruism