The Defeat of Hierarchy

Gambling as exchange in a Sepik society

Bibliographic Data

ID2466141
AuthorsWilliam E Mitchell (University of Vermont, corresponding author)
Year1988
Volume15
Issue4
Pages638-657
Publication date1988-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Ethnologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-0496 • E-ISSN: 1548-1425
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/ae.1988.15.4.02a00030
OpenAlexW2095029930
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited65

Along with the anthropological neglect of negative reciprocal exchange, scant attention has been given to Melanesian exchange systems that work to defeat the construction of hierarchy. Sahlins' classical model of reciprocity is critically examined and a more logically consistent approach offered. Wape gambling is identified as generalized negative reciprocity and interpreted as complementary to the Wape traditional exchange system in the preservation of male egalitarianism from the erosive changes of a capitalist market system. A dialectical model of exchange systems is offered that acknowledges the processual interrelationship between positive and negative reciprocity in the formation of exchange scenarios

Dialectic · Economics · Egalitarianism · Epistemology · Hierarchy · Market economy · Neglect · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Positive economics · Reciprocal · Reciprocity · Reciprocity (cultural anthropology · Social exchange theory · Social science · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology