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Demand Sharing: Reciprocity and the Pressure for Generosity among Foragers
Author(s) -
Peterson Nicolas
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1993.95.4.02a00050
Subject(s) - generosity , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , sociobiology , sociology , social psychology , matching (statistics) , negotiation , norm of reciprocity , positive economics , economics , psychology , social capital , law and economics , social science , law , political science , anthropology , statistics , mathematics
Despite the prevalence of an ethic of generosity among foragers, much sharing is by demand rather than by unsolicited giving. Although a behavioristic model of demand sharing can be seen as matching sociobiological expectations, the emphasis here is on the social and symbolic significance of the practice. It is argued that demand sharing involves testing, assertive, and/or substantiating behavior and is important in the constitution of social relations in egalitarian societies.