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The Anthropology of Giving: Toward A Cultural Logic of Charity

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  • John H. Hanson

Abstract

Modern elite charity is class-centered and exclusionary, employing charitable exchange ritual, like the primitive potlatch, for structured loss and exchange, both affirming and concealing status and power, obfuscating yet illuminating privilege. Traditional models of charitable giving are often Eurocentric and monocultural, employing a market model-based 'exchange theory' assuming that giving is a series of dyadic, reciprocated 'purchases' by donors seeking maximum utility. Looking at modern charitable giving as a 'total social fact' (Mauss) we can detect patterns behind elite charitable giving that make seeming relinquishment of wealth a declaration of power. Nonprofits are embedded in these dynamics as the elite gift economy expresses itself through modern charitable giving.

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  • John H. Hanson, 2015. "The Anthropology of Giving: Toward A Cultural Logic of Charity," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 501-520, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jculte:v:8:y:2015:i:4:p:501-520
    DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2014.949284
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Shershow, Scott Cutler, 2005. "The Work and the Gift," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226752563, September.
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