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6 - Gift, market, and social justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

By
Marcel Hénaff
Edited by
Reiko Gotoh  and
Paul Dumouchel
Reiko Gotoh
Affiliation:
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto
Paul Dumouchel
Affiliation:
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto
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Summary

When compared with the ubiquitous power of the market, gift-giving practices can only appear marginal. Some of them, such as ritual gift-giving, are viewed as a thing of the past and often called archaic; others, such as giving gifts to loved ones or persons that one admires or who deserve to be honored, also serve to increase the circulation of commodities, in particular during the holidays; still others, such as providing assistance to persons in need, appeal to the generosity of the public and the state or, as in the case of various support projects, are performed by philanthropic foundations. None of these practices can rival specifically industrial and commercial activities, whether what is considered is the amounts or the social effects involved. Is there a purpose beyond exoticism, then, in raising the question of gift-giving as part of a debate between economy and social justice?

The question of the gift is a fascinating one, however, no matter what its various forms may be, whether this is because it involves an exchange of goods that seems immune from the laws of commercial exchange (even if the market does get something out of it) or because it reveals an altruistic quality that transcends the supposed selfishness of the rational agent, or finally, in an even more subtle way, because the participants in commercial exchange can resort to gift-giving games in order to make business practices more effective.

Type
Chapter
Information
Against Injustice
The New Economics of Amartya Sen
 , pp. 112 - 139
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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