The theme of gift has in recent years been subject to considerable commentary in diverse disciplines including philosophy, anthropology, sociology, religious studies and literary criticism. The vast majority of these studies focus on how or whether gift can be differentiated from exchange. In this dissertation I maintain that gift is a form of giving and receiving that is distinct from exchange or commerce, and that it need not create an obligation to return or reciprocate. This gift is given unilaterally to the need of the other and results in relatedness rather than indebtedness. This essay considers the characteristics of exchange and of gift, then reviews the thought of five writers on giving/receiving and reciprocation. This is followed by an overview of the gift theme in African Traditional Religion and the Judaic and Christian traditions, and a concluding chapter summarising thoughts on gift and self-interest, sharing, need, and gratitude. / Religious Studies and Arabic / M.A.(Religious Studies)

Trois groupes professionnels ruraux parient sur l'amélioration de leur qualité de vie en participant à un projet qui associe la diffusion de la langue française et celle de techniques fromagères et céramistes. Le rapport au projet des acteurs sociaux et les stratégies qu'ils y déploient dépendent de leur degré d'engagement et celui-ci dépend à son tour de la valeur d'utilité attribuée à la nouvelle langue. Les différents schémas interactionnels activés par les groupes et leur réactions vis-à-vis des objets linguistiques et techniques, interrogent le rapport existant entre type de métier, processus d'apprentissage et réinvestissement social des savoirs. Les obstacles de la diffusion linguistique et technique dans ce milieu rural sont liés d'une part aux inégalités sociales et à la structure de réciprocité qu'elles génèrent et, d'autre part, à la prise de pouvoir de plus en plus marquée par les acteurs sociaux, prise de pouvoir collective qui s'oriente vers un refus des biens matériels et des valeurs symboliques imposés par le régime développementiste de l'économie capitaliste basé sur la compétitivité et l'innovation. Cette recherche fournit une vision d'ensemble de la réalité sociale d'une région rurale colombienne. / Three rural professional groups bet on the improvement of their quality of life by participating in a project which associates diffusion of French language, and the one of cheese-making and ceramist techniques. The relation of social actors with the project and the strategies they deploy depend on their degree of commitment and this one depends in its turn on the value of utility allocated to the new language. The different interaction schemes activated by the groups and their reactions towards the linguistic and technical objects question the relations between type of job, learning process and social reinvestment of knowledges. The obstacles of linguistic and technical diffusion in this rural context emerge on one hand from social inequalities and from the structure of reciprocity which they generate and, on the other hand, from the more and more firm social empowerment by social actors, collective empowerment that turns towards a refusal of tangible assets and symbolic values imposed by the development regime of the capitalist economy based on competitiveness and innovation. This research provides an overview of the social reality of a Colombian rural region.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:36:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RocheleVCBM_TESE.pdf: 2095393 bytes, checksum: 3e32df9736d15e4a91bb5cabe3afd11b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-24 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / Human cooperation is fundamentally affected by reciprocal exchange, but it is also remarkably common on the context of large and symbolically marked in-groups, which promote cooperation through the feeling of belonging to a group. In this thesis, two empirical articles were produced in order to investigate how human cooperation is affected by factors such as reciprocity, in-group behavior, in-group markers and gender. We investigated this subject through the administration of online games consisting of token donations, on which the subjects faced virtual players controlled by the experiment. We found that cooperative behavior is strongly influenced by reciprocity, and it is also affected by the in-group behavior, observed on the context of the social variables place of birth, ethnicity, and religions, once all of them acted as in-group markers. The subjects? in-group behavior was enhanced when they played with generous in-group opponents, but weakened when their in-group opponents were non-generous. It was also found that cooperation is not affected by gender, but men and women cooperated in different ways under the influence of reciprocity and in-group behavior. Women are much more reciprocal on their cooperative behavior and men are less willing to cooperate with outgroupers, even when they act generously. The overall results contribute to a better understanding of the adaptive value of cooperation, reciprocity and in-group behavior on the solution of important challenges through the human evolutionary history / A coopera??o humana, al?m ser fundamentada pelas trocas rec?procas, desenvolve-se notadamente dentro de grupos extensos e simbolicamente marcados, nos quais existe a presen?a de marcadores de grupos, elementos que promovem a coopera??o por indicar pertin?ncia compartilhada. Na presente tese de doutorado, foram produzidos dois artigos emp?ricos que investigaram como a coopera??o humana se organiza diante dos fatores reciprocidade, comportamento de favorecimento de grupos, influ?ncia de marcadores de grupo e sexo dos indiv?duos. O m?todo de investiga??o consistiu no emprego de jogos online de doa??o de fichas, nos quais os sujeitos interagiam com jogadores virtuais controlados pelo experimento. Em linhas gerais, verificamos que o comportamento cooperativo sofre forte influ?ncia da reciprocidade. A coopera??o tamb?m ? afetada pelo favorecimento de grupos, comportamento que emergiu sob a influ?ncia das vari?veis naturalidade, etnia e religi?o, as quais atuaram como marcadores de grupo. O comportamento de favorecimento de grupos dos sujeitos mostrou-se amplificado na condi??o em que os parceiros de grupo cooperaram de forma generosa e enfraquecido na condi??o em que os parceiros de grupo foram pouco generosos. Verificamos tamb?m que a coopera??o n?o ? afetada pelo sexo dos indiv?duos. Por outro lado, homens e mulheres cooperam de forma diferenciada sob a influ?ncia da reciprocidade e do comportamento de favorecimento de grupos: as mulheres apresentam um perfil mais rec?proco na coopera??o e os homens cooperam pouco com os indiv?duos que n?o pertencem ao seu grupo, mesmo quando estes s?o generosos. Os resultados dos trabalhos, tomados em conjunto, contribuem para a compreens?o do valor adaptativo da coopera??o, da reciprocidade e do comportamento de favorecimento de grupos na solu??o de desafios na hist?ria evolutiva do homem

Em uma perspectiva evolutiva, a emergência e a manutenção de comportamentos altruísticos e de cooperação não é de fácil entendimento. O impulso por ajudar um indivíduo desconhecido não pode significar um prejuízo na capacidade reprodutiva, o que muitas vezes parece ser o mais óbvio. Muito se tem feito no sentido de compreender os ganhos indiretos da cooperação, ou o que se espera em retorno por este comportamento. A espera por reciprocidade é um dos modos de se tornar a cooperação atraente. Os seres humanos possuem uma capacidade singular de expandir a reciprocidade para interações organizadas em que não necessariamente se recebe a retribuição de um favor, mas sim o favor de um terceiro indivíduo. Para estes sistemas, de reciprocidade indireta, são necessários elaborados processos cognitivos que sustentam uma capacidade para linguagem, julgamentos morais e organização social. Entende-se que esta forma de cooperação é um fator essencial para a evolução do intelecto e da estrutura social atuais dos seres humanos. A teoria dos jogos evolucionária é uma ferramenta matemática muito utilizada na sistematização analítica dos problemas envolvendo cooperação e processos evolutivos no geral. A capacidade reprodutiva é traduzida em termos de funções matemáticas, sendo possível realizar dinâmicas populacionais que modelam a pressão seletiva. Neste trabalho, utilizamos métodos de teoria dos jogos evolucionária para explorar modelos de reciprocidade indireta, expandindo o tratamento de um modelo para interações opcionais envolvendo estratégias de cooperadores condicionais. Mostramos que a presença de cooperadores incondicionais ameaça a estabilidade da cooperação e que erros de execução podem ser uma solução. / At an evolutionary perspective, the emergence and maintenance of altruistic and cooperative behaviours is of no easy understanding. The impulse of helping an unrelated individual cannot mean a loss of reproductive fitness, as many times may seem the obvious. Much has been done in the way of knowing the indirect benefits of cooperation, or what to expect in retribution for this behaviour. To expect reciprocity is one way of looking at cooperation as more attractive. Human beings have a singular capacity of expanding reciprocity to organized interactions where retribution of a favour is not necessary, but one can expect the favour of a third-party. For these systems, of indirect reciprocity, elaborate cognitive processes are necessary, ones that maintain the capacity for language, moral judgements and social organization. One can understand this form of cooperation as an essential factor for the evolution of humans nowadays´ intellect and social structure. Evolutionary game theory is a mathematical tool that is largely used in the analytical systematization of problems involving cooperation and evolutionary processes in general. Reproductive fitness is understood in terms of mathematical functions, making possible the work on population dynamics that model selective pressure. In this work, we use methods in evolutionary game theory to explore models of indirect reciprocity, expanding the treatment of a model for optional interactions involving conditional cooperators strategies. We show that the presence of unconditional cooperators threatens the stability of cooperation and that execution errors might be a solution.

Sweden has developed into a country of ethnic and cultural diversity. Research highlight the importance of reciprocal integration and intercultural venues. Minority and majority population must participate in the process of integration, by mutually accepted conditions. The civil society offers social venues but these venues are culturally segregated which prevent intercultural relationships to develop. Språkvän is a civic organization that takes on this challenge. By examining how reciprocity is created within these intercultural relations, knowledge of how reciprocal integration can develop in practice will be created. Reciprocity is developed through social relationships, and the relationship in its entirety must therefore be studied. Theories of social capital enable the study of social relations, based on three features: a structural, a cognitive and a relational dimension. The aim of this study has been to examine how social capital is created within the intercultural relationships, and participants of Språkvän has been interviewed. Volunteers and newcomers were interviewed in focus groups, based on a qualitative and hermeneutic approach. The study showed that there is a discrepancy regarding expectations of the relationship. In line with previous research the terms of the relationships are not reciprocal which endangers the cohesion and perseverance of the relationships.

This study examines the South Korea President Park Geun-hye and United States President Obama respective administration's policy vis-à-vis North Korea. The scope is narrowed down to the year 2013, during which the regime in Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test. How to perceive and engage the regime in Pyongyang have been debated in the post-cold war era, divided into progressive (doves) and hard liners (hawks). Periods of policy discrepancy have occurred between Washington and Seoul, that have been observed to bear effect on North Korean behavior vis-à-vis South Korea. This study ties on to the contemporary policy debate in Seoul and Washington on North Korean engagement strategies. Moreover, expanding the scope and examines the respective administration's policy through a analytical framework based on a content analysis from a system level perspective. Furthermore, how neo-realism, neo-liberalism and the concept of reciprocity can shed light upon respective policies and give a sense of notion of alignment or discrepancy between Seoul and Washington.

Initiée par René Girard, la théorie mimétique suggère que l’égalité des conditions consacrée comme un droit exacerbe la rivalité entre semblables. Quand l’étiolement de la souveraineté étatique et la logique compétitive de l’économie marchande coïncident avec la prolifération de conflits aux enjeux planétaires, cette rivalité des égaux prend une valeur paradigmatique. L’ambition d’une anthropologie mimétique à traiter de l’époque contemporaine mieux que la philosophie politique idéaliste ou la science politique réaliste suppose une reformulation. Espérance de pallier une insuffisance d’être, le désir mimétique, ou désir d’être autre, aboutit à un résultat contradictoire, la déception de rester insuffisant, l’autre étant alors perçu à la fois comme modèle et obstacle. Pour les acteurs politiques, ce désir devient la revendication d’une égale puissance d’être, promesse faite autant par la citoyenneté, le droit des peuples à disposer d’eux-mêmes que la souveraineté des États sur leur territoire et leur population.En tant que modalité de la contention de la violence, le politique serait ainsi analysable par une « science des rapports humains », anthropologie englobante et non-disciplinaire adoptant un interdividualisme méthodologique. Sur fond de menaces inédites pour la pérennité de l’humanité, la réciprocité des rapports humains fait douter de la compatibilité entre projet égalitaire, quête d’identité et concorde sociale. Ces rapports questionnent également la prépondérance actuelle de la compétition dans les institutions, entre autres politiques, laquelle s’est imposée comme liant paradoxal du gouvernement représentatif et de l’économie de marché. / Conceived by René Girard, mimetic theory suggests that the equality of conditions, established as a right, exacerbates the rivalry between similar individuals or groups. When the withering away of state sovereignty and the competitive logic of the market economy overlap with the multiplication of conflicts, this rivalry of equals becomes a relevant paradigm.Mimetic anthropology’s ambition – to address contemporary issues better than either idealistic political philosophy or realistic political science –, demands nevertheless to be revisited. The hope to overcome a lack of being, mimetic desire, or one’s desire to become someone else ends up giving way to a contradictory outcome: the disappointment of remaining oneself, the other thereby being perceived as both one’s model and one’s obstacle. For political actors, this desire turns into the claim of the equal power to be, which the promise of citizenship, the right of peoples to self-determination and the state sovereignty over its people and its territory each exemplify. As a modality of the containment of violence, politics could then be analyzed by a non-disciplinary "science of human relationships", implementing a methodological interdividualism. Against the backdrop of unprecedented threats to the survival of humanity, the reciprocity of human relationships casts doubt on the compatibility between the egalitarian project, the quest for identity, and social harmony. These relationships also question the current predominance of competition in the institutions, including political institutions, which has become the paradoxical binding agent between representative governments and the market economy.

In this thesis I aim to build a normative argument for equality of access to advantage at the global level, and motivate action conducive to the realization of this ideal. The normative argument is presented over the course of the first two chapters. In Chapter One I ask, ‘How should we conceive of distributive equality?’ Following G.A. Cohen, I argue that equality is best conceived as equality of access to advantage. I interpret this to require equal access to both ‘worldly autonomy’—a term I invoke to describe a certain basic threshold level of autonomy—and subjective preference satisfaction. In Chapter Two, I establish a justificatory basis for equality on a global scale. I argue that equality is justified at the global level on the basis of justice as reciprocity for the mutual provision of the global system of state-enforced borders, in which the participation of all people is equally necessary, and that makes possible a wide variety of institutional goods predominately enjoyed by people in rich developed countries. In Chapter Three, I take up the second aim of the thesis: to motivate action conducive to the realization of this global distributive ideal. I engage the concern that global equality is a poor ideal, demanding too much change in the attitudes and lifestyles of the well-off to motivate them to pursue it. I aim to show that, even if most people are not motivated to pursue global equality, there are alternative grounds for immediately feasible global reforms and redistributions likely to have greater motivational purchase on people’s sensibilities. Alternative grounds for redistribution and reform include reparative justice, cooperative justice, respect for basic human rights, and self-interest. Making these redistributions and reforms would not only be desirable from the perspective of the alternative grounds that explain them, but will have the further happy result of bringing the world closer to the global distributive ideal of equality of access to advantage. Plausibly, it will bring the world sufficiently close to this ideal that people will be motivated to pursue it for its own sake.

Essence même des rapports sociaux, la réciprocité est le principe fondamental qui gouverne les échanges entre les êtres humains et qui permet de définir l’équilibre de leurs relations. Protéiforme et fonctionnelle, elle demeure une notion délicate à circonscrire puisqu’elle s’inscrit à la fois dans la coopération et la lutte, qu’il s’agisse de la sociologie ou du droit. Cet équilibre ne peut rimer avec égalité dès lors qu’il s’agit d’étudier les relations entre l’Administration et les usagers. En effet, les individus n’agissent pas sous couvert d’un voile d’ignorance et les Administrations préservent les intérêts de l’État. Le hiatus affiché, il est incarné essentiellement par l’unilatéralité et la légalité du droit fiscal. Le caractère réciprocitaire n’est pas exclu pour autant. Dérivé adapté du principe d’égalité, la réciprocité serait un concept juridique et anthropologique au service de chacun, en proportion. À l’origine des valeurs et des structures humaines, de l’organisation de la famille jusqu’à celle de la société, la réciprocité imprègne tant le système fiscal que des instruments plus particuliers. Conformément à sa double nature, elle peut revêtir la forme de la « vengeance » – compliance et vérification, défaillance et rectification… – à l’instar du droit international, mais également la forme de « l’alliance » - Chartes, contrôle, transaction… -, à l’instar du droit des obligations. Stabilisatrice, la réciprocité participe donc du renouvellement de ces relations à tous les stades des procédures fiscales – imposition, contrôle et contentieux – dans le sens d’un équilibre obligatoirement différencié, générateur d’échange de bons procédés dans la préservation asymétrique, ou simplement différée, des intérêts de chacun. / Essence of social relations, reciprocity is the fundamental principle which governs human exchanges and defined the balance of their relationships. Protean and functional, it remains a delicate notion, between cooperation and struggle, in sociology but also in law. This balance cannot rhyme with equality when we study public relations: people don’t act behind a veil of ignorance and Administrations must work for public interest. The hiatus displayed, it is embodied basically in the unilateralism and legality of tax law. The reciprocal character is not excluded from these relations; from equality, it could be the anthropological and legal concept, serving each one, proportionally. Source of the human values and structures, from the family organization to the society organization, reciprocity colours both tax system that more special instruments. In accordance with its double nature, it may be in the form of “revenge” – tax compliance and tax inspection, failure to fulfil tax obligations and tax adjustment... – like in international law, but also in the form of “alliance” – Charters, tax audit, transaction... – like in contract law. Stabilizer, reciprocity is related to the renewal of these relations at all stages of the tax procedures – taxation, control, litigation – in the sense of a necessarily differentiated balance, which leads to an exchange of goods in the asymmetric conservation, or simply deferred, of the interests of each one.

The study “Cultural Capital and territory: nodes, ties and web of networks of family farmers from Sergipe high hinterland” proposes to analyze the role of cultural capital in solidary reciprocity networks among family farmers for organization and fortification of areas in Nossa Senhora da Glória - SE. The analyzed areas were defined by their historical formation processes, by the reticular and multidimensional relation, power relations, considering the circulation and communication networks, economic processes and mainly the cultural identities. The Cultural Capital is a fundamental key in understanding the territory, specially when it observing the territorial dynamics. The nuclear question is how the cultural capital contributes to the strengthening of the territories and their identity as well the life’s quality of family farmers through close ties, solidarity and trust, contradicting the logic promoted by the state government, which has the new formal social organization patterns reflections, grounded in formal discussions associations, creating new patterns of institutional networks. The theoretical methodological procedures adopted in the study were bibliographic and field research through semi-structured interviews, oral history and direct observation in the establishments, from July 2014 to March 2015. We interviewed leaders of all formal entities (association and labor union) municipal farmers family of Nossa Senhora da Glória - SE, for a total of fifty-six organizations, and the same amount of family farmers associated with these entities, provided that they were not part of the current directorships in order that all answers of farmers leaders and not leaders of the associations were confronted. In conclusion, there is evidence of high levels of cultural capital among family farmers that has contributed to the strengthening of the analyzed territories; however, the state imposition on mandatory formal organization among farmers at certain times appears as an obstacle to the strengthening of capital and consequently the Territories. / No estudo “Capital Cultural e Território: os nós, os laços e a trama das redes de Agricultores Familiares do Município de Nossa Senhora da Glória - SE”, propõe-se analisar o papel do capital cultural nas redes solidárias de reciprocidade entre agricultores familiares para a organização e fortalecimento do(s) território(s) em Nossa Senhora da Glória - SE. Os territórios analisados foram definidos por seus processos históricos de formação, pela relação reticular e multidimensional, pelas relações de poder, considerando-se as redes de circulação e comunicação, os processos econômicos e principalmente as identidades culturais. O capital cultural é peça fundamental na compreensão do território, em especial, quando se observa a dinâmica territorial. A questão nuclear é saber de que forma o capital cultural contribui para o fortalecimento dos territórios e sua identidade, bem como na qualidade de vida dos agricultores familiares por meio dos laços de proximidade, solidariedade e confiança, contrariando uma lógica promovida pelo poder público estatal, a qual tem como reflexos novos padrões de organização social formal, alicerçados nas discussões de associativismo formal, gerando novos padrões de redes institucionais. Os procedimentos teóricos metodológicos adotados no estudo foram à pesquisa bibliográfica e de campo, por meio de entrevista semiestruturada, história oral e observação direta nos estabelecimentos, no período de julho de 2014 a março de 2015. Foram entrevistados dirigentes de todas as entidades formais (associação e sindicato) de Agricultores Familiares do município de Nossa Senhora da Glória, SE, perfazendo um total de cinquenta e seis organizações, e esta mesma quantidade de agricultores familiares associados a essas entidades, com a condição de que não fizessem parte das atuais diretorias. O intuito era de que fossem confrontadas todas as respostas dos agricultores dirigentes e não dirigentes das associações. Como conclusão, evidencia-se níveis elevados de Capital Cultural entre os Agricultores Familiares que tem contribuído para o fortalecimento dos territórios analisados; contudo, a imposição do Estado na obrigatoriedade de organização formal entre os agricultores em determinados momentos se apresenta como obstáculo ao fortalecimento do Capital Social e consequentemente dos Territórios.