Talk:Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)

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I'm thinking that the "Negative Reciprocity" not being well reprsented here. Marshall Sahlins is the one who defined the term, negative reciprocity, I believe. He states it is to define economic deception, where one tries to reap the benefit without paying the cost. Fruad, theft, and ruthless haggling are all under the term, negative reciprocity.

You're right. I think also balanced reciprocity is misrepresented. At least sources should be cited, because this article does not represent Sahlins theory of reciprocity, but maybe some other theorist. (Polanyi???)

From http://www.vanderbilt.edu/AnS/Anthro/Anth234/sahlins.htm:

Sahlins' 3 Types of Reciprocity: -generalized: usually between close kin; no clear expectation of return, at least not in the near future; "altruism" -balanced: deny that calculations are being made, but expectation of equality in the short or medium term -negative: not reciprocating, manipulating the system, something for nothing, battering, haggling

Reciprocity != Informal Economy[edit]

The illegal drug trade functions as an informal economy, but it most certainly isn't based on a system of reciprocity. That first line should be better defined. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.255.191.236 (talk) 06:47, 11 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Dr. Charness's comment on this article[edit]

Dr. Charness has reviewed this Wikipedia page, and provided us with the following comments to improve its quality:


1) I see reciprocity through a different lens that anthropology. For example, negative reciprocity involves hurting another party (or simply doing less than one otherwise would have done) who has acted in a manner that is harmful to one's self. Similarly, positive reciprocity involves helping another party (or simply doing more than one otherwise would have done) who has acted in a manner that is beneficial to one's self.


We hope Wikipedians on this talk page can take advantage of these comments and improve the quality of the article accordingly.

Dr. Charness has published scholarly research which seems to be relevant to this Wikipedia article:


  • Reference : Gary Charness & Ernan Haruvy, 1999. "Altruism, equity and reciprocity in a gift-exchange experiment: An encompassing approach," Economics Working Papers 368, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.

ExpertIdeasBot (talk) 17:54, 27 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]