Gift Giving and the 'Embedded' Economy in the Ancient World (Akademiekonferenzen, Band 17)

The idea of a 'gift economy' has a long tradition in social economic and cultural studies since Marcel Mauss' seminal work. But in the latest years anthropological philosophical and economic research have underlined that nothing such as a 'gift economy' exists - at least if conceived as a phase preceding modern exchange - and that the 'phenomenon gift' must be understood not only in the different social and cultural contexts in which it is embedded but also in its coexistence and connections to other forms of exchange from commerce to barter to theft. This book analyzes from a multipli city of perspectives and focusing in particular the ancient world the depth and complexity of such connections the social norms and expectations connected to gift-giving its economic aspects as its role in the construction and consolidation of social hierarchies dedicating attention not only to the praxis of exchange but also to the role of the agents and of the exchanged object itself.