Abstract
Sociologists and economic anthropologists often implicitly associate capitalist societies with the commodity form and preindustrial societies with the gift form. In contrast, this ethnographic study of the sales of electronics components shows that gifting and commodity exchange actually are inextricably intertwined in contemporary markets. Commodity exchange depends on obligation networks created and sustained, in part, by gifting and countergifting. Each juncture of the sales process has an associated type of gifting. Gifts provide the social basis for a moral economy that governs the construction of sales networks.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Biggart, Nicole W. 1989 Charismatic Capitalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bird-David, Nurit 1997 “Economies: A cultural–economic perspective.” International Social Science Journal 154:463-475.
Bourdieu, Pierre 1977 Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Clark, Colin, and Trevor Pinch 1988 “Micro sociology and microeconomics: Selling by social control.” In Nigel G. Fielding (ed.), Action and Structure: Research Methods and Social Theory. London: Sage.
Clark, Colin, and Trevor Pinch 1995 The Hard Sell. Hammersmith, UK: HarperCollins
Clark, Colin, and Trevor Pinch 1996 “The hard sell: 'Patter merchanting' and the strategic (re)production and local management of economic reasoning in the sales routine of market pitchers.” Sociology, 20:169-191.
Granovetter, Mark 1985 “Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness.” American Journal of Sociology 91 (3):481-510.
Grint, Keith 1998 The Sociology of Work. Cambridge: Polity Press
Hall, Richard H. 1985 The Dimensions of Work. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Humphrey, Caroline, and Stephen Hugh-Jones (eds.) 1992 Barter, Exchange and Value. Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press.
Kipnis, B. Andrew 1997 Producing Guanxi: Sentiment, Self, and Subculture in North China Village. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Leidner, Robin 1993 Fast Food Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Lombardo, Barbara 1995 “Corporate philanthropy: Gift or business transaction?” Non Profit Management and Leadership 5 (3):291-301.
Malinowsky, Bronislow 1932 Crime and Custom in Savage Society. London: Paul, Trench, Trubner.
Mauss, Marcel 1954 The Gift. London: Cohen and West. (Original work published 1925)
Polanyi, Karl 1957 Trade and Markets in the Early Empires: Economics in History and Theory: 243–270. Glencoe, Scotland: Free Press.
Prus, Robert C. 1989 Making Sales: Influence as Interpersonal Accomplishment. London: Sage
Prus, Robert C. 1986 “It's on 'sale!': An examination of vendor perspectives, activities, and dilemmas.” Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 23 (1):72-90.
Ridgeway, F. Valentine 1957 “Administration of manufacturing-dealer systems.” Administrative Science Quarterly 1 (4):464-483.
Sherry, John F. 1983 “Gift giving in anthropological perspective.” Journal of Consumer Research 10:157-168.
Smart, Allen 1998 “Guanxi, gifts, and learning from China: A review essay.” Anthropos, 93:559-565.
Smith, Charles W. 1990 Auctions: The social construction of value. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Strauss, G. 1962 “Tactics of lateral relationships: The purchasing agent.” Administrative Science Quarterly 7 (2):161-186.
Tolbert, Pamela S., and Robert N. Stern 1991 “Organizations of professionals: Governance structures in large law firms.” Research in the Sociology of Organizations 8:97-117.
Uzzi, Brian 1997 “Social structure and competition in interfirm networks: The paradox of embeddedness.” Administrative Science Quarterly 42:35-67.
Uzzi, Brian 1996 “The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations.” American Sociological Review 61:674-698.
Yan, Yunxiang 1996 The Flow of Gifts: Reciprocity and Social Networks in a Chinese Village. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Zucker, Lynne G. 1986 “Production of trust: Institutional sources of economic structure, 1840–1920.” Research in Organizational Behavior 8:53-111.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Darr, A. Gifting Practices and Interorganizational Relations: Constructing Obligation Networks in the Electronics Sector. Sociological Forum 18, 31–51 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022650627892
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022650627892