Althouse: “That spirit" — a "gift" culture — "if spread in the world and widely adopted, would condition how people, as consumers in the marketplace, behave."

April 29, 2018

“That spirit" — a "gift" culture — "if spread in the world and widely adopted, would condition how people, as consumers in the marketplace, behave."

"Whereas if all of your self worth and esteem is invested in how much you consume, how many likes you get, or other quantifiable measures, the desire to simply possess things trumps our ability or capability to make moral connections with people around us. There should be room in the world for both systems to flourish. If they did, they would inform one another."

Said Larry Harvey, quoted in the 2014 Atlantic article, "The Wonderful, Weird Economy of Burning Man/Burners spend thousands preparing for the money-free event. But just as the desert community cannot fully escape capitalism, neither can capitalism remain untouched by the 'gift economy.'"

I clicked through to that article from "Larry Harvey, the Man Behind Burning Man, Is Dead at 70" (NYT).

23 comments:

Gahrie said...: Much of my money is gifted by the government to others every year.; 4/29/18, 9:02 AM
Bilwick said...: Larry Harvey was also great as Colonel Travis in John Wayne's THE ALAMO.

But seriously. . .

That's "gift" culture, lefties--you know, gift, as in someone voluntarily giving someone something. As opposed to statism, where the State takes stuff from us at gunpoint.; 4/29/18, 9:15 AM
Wince said...: To win votes, Democrats want 50% +1 voters to think of government as an "all inclusive" vacation.; 4/29/18, 9:18 AM
Rusty said...: Free markets are organic.
What they are describing is a "Potlatch". Status gained by giving your stuff away.; 4/29/18, 9:20 AM
madAsHell said...: Burning Man, global warming are belief systems for people that haven't any.; 4/29/18, 9:30 AM
Qwerty Smith said...: Capitalism and socialism aren't motives for giving, they are modes of ownership (private and government, respectively). If I make something and give it to you, that's capitalism. If I make something and you convince the government to give it to you, that's socialism.

Altruism and selfishness just shape what we do within those modes. Understanding that might have prevented an awful lot of death and misery.; 4/29/18, 9:30 AM
Michael K said...: I sent gifts to my son for his birthday. Is that what he means?

Just kidding.

Lefties either have too much money or want ours.; 4/29/18, 9:31 AM
Quaestor said...: "Whereas if all of your self worth [sic] and esteem is invested in how much you consume, how many likes you get, or other quantifiable measures, the desire to simply possess things trumps our ability or capability to make moral connections with people around us. There should be room in the world for both systems to flourish. If they did, they would inform one another."

I'm shocked, shocked to learn that the last great hippie gathering — an unrestrained festival of drug-taking, public nudity, stilt-walking, and incessant noisome drumming — was justified by its founder in suitably pompous and self-righteous drivel.

Actually, I know nothing about Burning Man except that it is a frequent target of South Park's saber-toothed satire. If Parker and Stone find it risible, that's good enough for me. Hallelujah, brethren and cistern! Sing it with me!

Gimme that ole time South Park,
Gimme that ole time South Park,
Gimme that ole time South Park,
Gimme that ole time South Park,
It's good enough for me.; 4/29/18, 9:48 AM
bagoh20 said...: "Lefties either have too much money or want ours."

Sadly, it's both, which is fine and natural, but expecting to give nothing in return for it is just greed.; 4/29/18, 10:13 AM
Sebastian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/29/18, 10:25 AM
Sebastian said...: "Status gained by giving your stuff away."

Some gift cultures are more competitive than ours.

Leave it to lefties to romanticize the Other.; 4/29/18, 10:26 AM
the 4chan Guy who reads Althouse said...: I bet the 'gift culture' of Burning Man means that a lot of people were given, like, herpes and shit.

Because wherever you got hippies and naked and drugs you get the herpes.

Maybe that's why they called it Burning Man. Because I hear that shit hurts.

-4CD; 4/29/18, 10:30 AM
n.n said...: Capitalism includes charitable grants (e.g. zero-percent interest loans). The poignant features of capitalism is that it reflects private earnings and savings, optimal price determination, and an organic, perhaps "democratic", redistribution mechanism.; 4/29/18, 10:44 AM
traditionalguy said...: So is he burning or not?; 4/29/18, 11:38 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: Burning Man is a few days, and people are "gifting" things they bought in the regular economy.; 4/29/18, 12:18 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: At some level I suppose the hippies & progressives of the world realize that it is the people most like them who are screwing it up.
The money-is-not-all-that-matters, love-the-neighbor ethic is Christian, not progressive.; 4/29/18, 12:28 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: Gifting is a behavior that is spread widely through human society. Its purpose is to gain social status. Charity is something else altogether.; 4/29/18, 12:30 PM
Michael K said...: Its purpose is to gain social status. Charity is something else altogether.

Baron Hilton said, "Money isn't everything but it does help to keep the children close."; 4/29/18, 2:35 PM
Patrick Henry said...: The problem is we call what people do capitalism when really what we have are free markets. Free markets are the natural state of humans who interact with each other. We exchange something for something we value more. Both sides value what the other side has more than what they have and both feel better off having concluded the exchange and thank each other.

Free markets are the natural state and even when governments try get involved a free market still exists. We call these "black" markets, but they, too, are the voluntary exchange of goods/services priced according to the risk associated with the transaction due to the government's non-sanction of the goods/services provided.

Money is simply a way to store the value of goods/services exchanged. Burning Man still has free markets even if they don't have "money". This is because they don't understand what money actually is...(which is another discussion for another time).

Captialism as come to mean "free markets" and that's not really what it is at all. Capitalism is simply who owns the fruits of your labor. If you do, then we have capitalism (https://fee.org/articles/capitalism-definition-origins-dynamics/ is a short little primer). Since everything at Burning Man is voluntary, they are essentially all "capitalist".; 4/29/18, 3:33 PM
Valentine Smith said...: There is no such thing as altruism. Everything we do benefits us although conscious benefit may stand opposite the unconscious benefit.; 4/29/18, 3:57 PM
Rusty said...: for there to be a "gifting" culture there must also be an aquisition culture.; 4/30/18, 6:01 AM
Caligula said...: Reciprocity of exchange seems to be a universal expectation, found in all human cultures. Of course it takes different forms, partly depending on the social context.

Transactional reciprocity will be the default in low-trust environments, such as when one is dealing with strangers one may never see again. For if you provide something for someone in such an environment, you can't reasonably expect reciprocity in the future. And, therefore, money is demanded now for what is consumed now.

Whereas if one were to live in a traditional small-group society you can be reasonably sure that everyone will keep a mental accounting of favors-owed and favors-granted as the cost of developing a reputation as a cheat (defined as "does not always fully reciprocate") is very, very high.

Burning Man plays at producing this traditional small-group society, but of course it can't, in part because it can't be kept small but mostly because Americans are mobile and everyone will disperse an in such an environment promises of future reciprocity are inherently worthless.

Charity remains an exception, as it is an exchange of something-for-nothing. Nonetheless, if you want or need something you can't or don't want to provide for yourself, you're far more likely to get it if someone can profit by supplying it to you.

Yet reciprocity (where possible) remains a universal across human cultures, thus, radical utopians who forget this are sure to be disappointed.; 4/30/18, 9:44 AM
Rusty said...: n.n said...
"Capitalism includes charitable grants (e.g. zero-percent interest loans). The poignant features of capitalism is that it reflects private earnings and savings, optimal price determination, and an organic, perhaps "democratic", redistribution mechanism."
"capitalism" is a Marxist term. I prefer free markets or at least free market capitalism.
Some here like to argue that free markets exist because of the state. Free markets exist despite the state; 4/30/18, 1:14 PM