WEBVTT Kind: captions; language: en-us NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 86% (HØY) 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:11.800 Alright so we're back talking about gifts and commodities and now I've had my cup of coffee. I bought 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:22.700 it myself no one will try to invoke it as a way to make me do something that I don't want I bought 00:00:22.700 --> 00:00:31.900 this coffee in the grocery store as a commodity although, as we'll talk about perhaps at one stage in 00:00:31.900 --> 00:00:32.700 this NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 88% (HØY) 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:41.800 chain of value production the commodity was not a commodity the coffee beans themselves were in the 00:00:41.800 --> 00:00:51.650 first instance part of nature they were part of a common land that had to be turned into commodities 00:00:51.650 --> 00:01:02.300 turned into private property and set in motion to arrive finally in the grocery store where I bought it NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 70% (MEDIUM) 00:01:02.300 --> 00:01:10.400 and then it is perhaps given to someone turning it back into a gift invoking the gift 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:20.300 logic will get to that kind of dynamism in the last half of the lecture, or in the 00:01:20.300 --> 00:01:28.000 next recording. All right before we consider the other end of this gift commodity spectrum I 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:31.949 wanted to clear up one thing that I thought about NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 85% (HØY) 00:01:31.949 --> 00:01:40.000 after we left off about gifts that perhaps was not so clear. What's so good about the 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:49.400 Godfather example with Vito Corleone and Bonasera is that it shows obviously that 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:59.650 gifts is not something that is inherently good or nice, it's not like all gift exchanges are 00:01:59.650 --> 00:02:02.900 nice and moral NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 86% (HØY) 00:02:02.900 --> 00:02:09.000 in the sense that you know you put a ribbon on it and it's all about good feelings. Gift-giving can 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:16.900 be violent and a way to create hierarchy, it's a way of says Chris Gregory is a very much a way in clan-based 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:26.000 societies of creating domination and control. Of course Bonasera knows this he fears to be in Vito 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:27.550 Corleone's debt NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 83% (HØY) 00:02:27.550 --> 00:02:37.100 which they point out in their dialogue. So gift-giving can be a means of creating domination 00:02:37.100 --> 00:02:45.100 and control, another clarification is when I say here that it's the thought that counts in 00:02:45.100 --> 00:02:51.800 gift-giving I do not mean that the materiality of the gift what you can get for it how much 00:02:51.800 --> 00:02:57.800 it's worth is not important in bride price for example in dowry NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 84% (HØY) 00:02:57.800 --> 00:03:08.300 people rely heavily on the economic use that they make of the gifts that are given you build a 00:03:08.300 --> 00:03:18.350 household based on gifts you received in the marriage by saying the thought that counts what we're 00:03:18.350 --> 00:03:25.500 saying is basically it's the thought about the relationship that counts it's the relationship that 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:28.500 counts this is what the thought that counts NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 82% (HØY) 00:03:28.500 --> 00:03:37.900 points to so. It is the thought about what kind of relationship they're bringing to be long-term that 00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:44.400 counts in gift giving and this is the mirror opposite of what we're going to 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:54.800 put here the characteristics of commodity exchange as Chris Gregory defines it NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 83% (HØY) 00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:05.000 so let's consider commodity exchange we engage in it every day here's a grocery store Norwegian grocery 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:10.400 store where we walk up to the cash register NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:13.700 with NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 81% (HØY) 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:25.000 items that we have picked that we're going to take home and notice what happens here in the cash 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:26.850 register NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 83% (HØY) 00:04:26.850 --> 00:04:35.450 she or he will pass on these items beeping them into the machine ready to string 00:04:35.450 --> 00:04:48.100 their cost and summarizing how much you owe. In a few seconds debt is created here a debt 00:04:48.100 --> 00:04:56.450 that is accumulated it says on the machine how much you owe because now she is or NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:04:56.450 --> 00:05:07.050 he is giving you these items and right then and there you are owing the grocery store this money NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 88% (HØY) 00:05:07.050 --> 00:05:15.450 so there's also a debt that is created in this exchange only that it is canceled out NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 75% (MEDIUM) 00:05:15.450 --> 00:05:17.750 within five seconds NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:05:17.750 --> 00:05:26.900 you are asked if you want a bag and you pay by card or cash often card these days and you cancel out 00:05:26.900 --> 00:05:34.100 that debt immediately the moment almost that you get the commodity in your hand and then the 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:37.050 relationship is over. NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 74% (MEDIUM) 00:05:37.050 --> 00:05:44.700 This is a part of the not only characteristic for commodity exchange but part of the appeal also for 00:05:44.700 --> 00:05:56.900 many this is what I think Bonasera also wanted he wanted to pay the Godfather an amount that 00:05:56.900 --> 00:06:01.000 would not put him in long-term debt NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 85% (HØY) 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:11.700 and you can assume most of this is what part of what the appeal is of people purchasing knitted 00:06:11.700 --> 00:06:23.000 mittens or whatever from a beggar outside part of the appeal of the purchase is this veneer or this 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:27.900 this perception of NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:06:27.900 --> 00:06:30.200 equality. NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 79% (HØY) 00:06:30.200 --> 00:06:38.350 This is a person coming to you with a service you pay for that service and then you 00:06:38.350 --> 00:06:43.600 You're off there's no long-term relationship there's no NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 76% (HØY) 00:06:44.300 --> 00:07:05.700 kind of benevolence from a rich person towards a poor person, there's no need to feel the sweaty hand 00:07:05.700 --> 00:07:11.250 of the gift logic on your shoulder when you're facing this poor person it's NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 90% (HØY) 00:07:11.250 --> 00:07:20.500 easier it is lighter it seems to be engaging in a commodity exchange, although there are gray zones 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:31.600 as we will get to. Just to finish our rundown of the mirror opposites before we go into the 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:40.500 gray zones it's nice to know that there is such a thing as black and white and let us then run down 00:07:40.500 --> 00:07:41.550 the opposite NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:07:41.550 --> 00:07:50.800 of the gift logic the commodity exchange so we're talking about non-reciprocal independence 00:07:50.800 --> 00:08:00.000 when you engage in the commodity exchange debt arises and you very quickly cancel out that NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 89% (HØY) 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:09.600 Debt and go off and you don't necessarily want a long-term relationship with a guy at the gas 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:12.800 station or someone in the grocery store NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 83% (HØY) 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:24.100 we go off as independent beings that means also that we are talking about items or the stuff that's 00:08:24.100 --> 00:08:33.200 being transacted as alienable, whereas gifts are inalienable it is like there's a 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:40.900 part of yourself that goes into the item that you send off and that will always be there. Commodities 00:08:40.900 --> 00:08:42.950 are alienable they're impersonal NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:08:42.950 --> 00:08:53.500 standardized and in order for them for them to become gifts you can notice interestingly 00:08:53.500 --> 00:09:00.100 if I buy something here in this grocery store let's say a pack of gum and I'm going to make it 00:09:00.100 --> 00:09:09.300 into a gift to give to someone I will not just give this alienable item away I will probably in 00:09:09.300 --> 00:09:13.000 order to mark it as a gift either say this is NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 87% (HØY) 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:20.300 a gift which is often not enough to convince someone that it actually means something to 00:09:20.300 --> 00:09:29.800 me, I'd have to wrap it somehow or write something on it create something of myself in the item I'd 00:09:29.800 --> 00:09:41.100 put a ribbon on it write "From Ståle" or whatever "To Keir Martin from Ståle with love and 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:42.950 hugs piece of gum for NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:09:42.950 --> 00:09:55.200 you" so here then I would move it into the personal to turn it into something that has a bit 00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:02.750 of me in it whereas in the commodity pure commodity logic we're talking about alienable items 00:10:02.750 --> 00:10:04.600 impersonal. NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 65% (MEDIUM) 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:15.600 Gift exchange creates relationships between people as we've been talking about it's the 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:22.600 thought about the relationship that counts is the relationship that counts in gift exchange whereas 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:32.500 commodity exchange creates relationships between objects, my money exchanging hands going into a cash 00:10:32.500 --> 00:10:33.800 register NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 85% (HØY) 00:10:33.800 --> 00:10:45.900 an object comes out in the other end I get a pack of coffee and off I go in a state of 00:10:45.900 --> 00:10:48.250 Independence NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:10:48.250 --> 00:10:57.500 we say it's just business, meaning there are no other logics that can be invoked 00:10:57.500 --> 00:11:05.100 here it's just business nothing personal. Finally whereas the gifts NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 73% (MEDIUM) 00:11:05.100 --> 00:11:17.400 is with Mauss a total social phenomenon, commodities are quote unquote "simply economic phenomena" these 00:11:17.400 --> 00:11:25.900 are ideal types okay so when you when you create or look into an example a concrete empirical 00:11:25.900 --> 00:11:29.550 example it will often have NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:11:29.550 --> 00:11:33.250 some of these characteristics mixed up NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 75% (MEDIUM) 00:11:33.250 --> 00:11:45.100 and we'll get to that in a second by looking at the text of Anna Tsing and Michael Taussig but finally 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:52.599 I thought I'd point out that for those of you who might be struggling or battling a little bit with 00:11:52.599 --> 00:12:00.500 Chris Gregory's text there's two projects going on and we're in that text and we've so far talked 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:02.550 only about the first one NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 85% (HØY) 00:12:02.550 --> 00:12:13.000 which is this attempt to create a distinction between gifts and commodities he is drawing on a 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:24.700 range of authors and it really shows how anthropology is a accumulative discipline it 00:12:24.700 --> 00:12:32.900 builds on the work of Malinowski or Mauss, Claude Levi-Strauss etc. NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:12:33.500 --> 00:12:45.650 to see what kinds of logics are behind gift exchange and he marries NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:12:45.650 --> 00:13:03.500 if you will that anthropological literature with political economy approach familiar to us as Marxism NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:06.700 and you can read this NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 84% (HØY) 00:13:08.100 --> 00:13:16.400 this project of distinguishing gifts and commodities as part of his second project which is perhaps 00:13:16.400 --> 00:13:23.100 what makes the text a bit difficult to understand because there are two things going on here on 00:13:23.100 --> 00:13:28.300 the one hand Gregory is distinguishing gifts and commodities saying you know 00:13:28.300 --> 00:13:35.500 there's this fundamental distinction to be drawn in the world here it is and at the same time 00:13:35.500 --> 00:13:38.800 he's developing another distinction in the NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:13:38.800 --> 00:13:44.850 chapter between the political economy approach that allows him to talk about gifts and commodities 00:13:44.850 --> 00:13:56.400 and the economics approach that does not have a conceptual apparatus that allows you to understand the 00:13:56.400 --> 00:14:07.450 distinctions between and the Logics of gifts and commodities gift and commodity exchange and he NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 88% (HØY) 00:14:07.450 --> 00:14:10.800 develops the political economy approach NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 84% (HØY) 00:14:10.800 --> 00:14:19.900 in order to critique basically what we've been talking about as neoclassical economics saying that 00:14:19.900 --> 00:14:28.200 in within the economics approach you go from assumptions about human nature to creating models that 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:36.100 are supposed to predict behavior whereas political economy approach is empirical, 00:14:36.100 --> 00:14:40.450 ethnographic, historical, concerned with NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 72% (MEDIUM) 00:14:40.450 --> 00:14:50.849 documenting facts and leaving assumptions about human nature to be discovered rather than to be 00:14:50.849 --> 00:14:52.150 assumed NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 80% (HØY) 00:14:52.150 --> 00:15:00.600 now in the interest of time I want you to just have a look at this piece of the argument and perhaps 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:10.100 bring it into seminars to discuss it with your peers but let us keep focusing for now on the 00:15:10.100 --> 00:15:20.700 distinction between gifts and commodities and I think we should try to give this distinction and the 00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:22.050 commodity NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 91% (HØY) 00:15:22.050 --> 00:15:31.500 logic a bit more empirical life and there are two texts on the syllabus that help us do that, to 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:34.050 understand commodities and the relations NOTE Treffsikkerhet: 83% (HØY) 00:15:34.050 --> 00:15:46.700 Of gifts and that is Taussig and Anna Tsing's text and we'll begin with Taussig after a short break.