Anthropology and the Economy of Sharing

Book excerpt: This book examines the economy of sharing in a variety of social and political contexts around the world. Widlok advocates a refreshingly broad comparative approach to our understanding of sharing, with a range of material from hunter-gatherer ethnography alongside empirical illustrations from globalized society. Breaking new ground in this key topic, he also demonstrates that sharing is distinct from gift-giving, exchange and reciprocity, dominant themes in economic anthropology, and suggests that a new focus on sharing will have significant repercussions for anthropological theory.