reciprocity anthropology assignment? market exchange?

[scallywag]

One of the important aspects of forms of exchange is "social distance": (generalised) reciprocity is a form of exchange found among people who are social equals (same status) or are close (friends and family). At the other end is market exchange where the value of something is not determined by your personal relationship to the person from whom you get that thing but "the market" (naively considered "supply and demand" but we all know from experience that prices rise until demand declines too far - i.e. "what the market will bear"! -- and supplies are controlled to manipulate demand).

The scenario: in our culture, money is used as a medium of exchange for market exchanges so if you see money being used to complete a transaction then it is likely a market transaction. But if you give money to a charity is that a market exchange? The answer depends on what you expect from the exchange, especially what you expect *socially* (or personally if you prefer). So, say you meet a new friend at a bar or coffee shop and your friend discovers they don't have any money. No problem, you buy your friend a drink/coffee but the question is: do you expect anything in return? If you expect your money the next day then that is a sign that your understanding of the transaction (coffee/drink/favour for money) is shaped by a culture of market exchange *even if the exchange itself was not, strictly speaking, a market exchange*. By not engaging in reciprocity (i.e. no expectation of any return, or at least any immediate return) you have denied the social closeness of friendship and treated the person as merely the recipient of your services for which you should be paid (you could have issued an invoice/IOU). The act of buying a drink/coffee was not a favour to a friend so should be repaid ASAP; without maintaining personal indebtedness to people (people, not institutions like banks) you are not creating the social closeness that would be expected among friends. If friends "should not owe (money)" that's because these are friends in a society/culture dominated by the market principle where transactions are supposed to be impersonal.

update: as an aside, treating the "favour" as a market transaction is a perfectly acceptable/social way of telling the person you are not interested in being close friends.