A gift economy is something that can be defined as a type of system where others supply their services to someone else, without the expectation of something in an immediate return. They basically do it for the benefit of the other person who which they are giving the good or service too. Hence the word gift in “gift economy”, the term is essentially self explanatory. A gift Economy can be constructed in many different areas of society involving different sorts of people; systems such as charities, many online sites (.edu, .org), families, and even organ donors. Many gift economies are organized online, connecting many different people, but many also occur outside of the internet. Gift economies can come from many different directions, all with the intent of benefiting someone or something else.
Many people today in different communities are not aware of the gift economies that they may belong to. Like the examples that I had listed above, there are many more that can be considered to have a gift economy within them. One enormous system in which I believe is one of the most important gift economies that I and many others belong to is that of education. The schools that all kids attend I believe are virtually gift economies. The teachers that fill our heads with the knowledge and information in there designated field of study are standing up there in the front of the classroom because they want to expand the horizons and knowledge of the however many students sitting in front of them. This is definitely a gift economy in my perspective, basically because we ourselves are not really paying the teachers in a direct form to tell us what they know and what we should learn.
My public high school and middle school are good prime examples of how I can relate to a system of a gift economy. Like all other students, me myself was not really the one that was giving back to the teachers that I went through during my teenage years as a student in the Frontier Central School System. Sure the taxes that are paid to the teacher as their salary are compensation for them teaching students like myself, but the students are not exactly the ones who are paying those taxes. As you can see, there really is not any immediate return to the professors and teachers that lend their knowledge to young kids in their high school and middle school years. The reason that the teachers get up there is first of all because they are supposed to and that is what is expected of them, and second of all it is because it is there duty to benefit the students with what they know.
Another way in which me and every person is involved in a gift economy is something that as known as family. We all have it, and there is no question of doubt that it may be considered a gift economy. Looking at is from an outside perspective, your immediate family consists of a mother father, most of the time both, and usually some siblings. The reason that your parents raise you with their love is because of the bond and relationship that exists between you and them. They go to work and bring in all this money, go out and go grocery shopping, and don’t expect you to help them pay for it do they? Or they don’t charge you to watch TV and pay rent on the house, right? So in a sense the benefit that parents are giving to their children is the support and necessities that are expected of them, knowing that they don’t expect anything in return from their child. If you want to really go in depth with this and try and argue it, what you may say is that for all the things that you are receiving from your parents, they may expect you to do the same for your child one day. This is something that all me and all people of society can relate to as a gift economy.
6 comments:
i would have never thought of high school or something like that as an economy, nice blog. education is a gift and we give back in return later when we grow up!!
Interesting idea, I would have never thought of it. Laughs.
I agree with everyone so far, this is a unique idea that I definitely consider a gift economy as well. We're lucky to have the opportunity that we do as students. Great blog.
Yeah it's weird because what started off as a social network for Harvard students became this multi mutli million dollar site. Companies are just lining up to get a piece of it because of the popularity it has with not only college students. I didn't realize just how popular it is. Very interesting!!
There' a lot of interesting points in this post. Schools definitely can be considered gift economies, and I probably never would have thought of them in that way prior to reading this.
Post a Comment