Re: [ox-en] Re: Free Software is not a gift
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 09:06:08 +0100
Hi Gregers and all!
Last month (38 days ago) Gregers Petersen wrote:
Stefan Merten wrote:
I think if you - in a strict sense - follow the basic idea of gift-exchange; as
being the foundation of all social relationships through the building/creation
of reciprocity between partners.
I think I understand what you mean here. Isn't this a rather personal
type of social relationship which is created this way? Isn't, however,
one of the characteristics of modern societies that they don't need
this type of personal social relationships?
As a characteristic - no, I would have to say no, is is highly relevant to keep
looking at reciprocity as one of the essential building blocks of basic social
organization.
Ok, I think I see what you mean. I agree that on a rather personal
level gift-exchange can be seen as a building block. However, there
are lots of examples where this gift exchange is only symbolical
instead of any "real" value exchange - for instance mother-child
relations.
But would you agree that the relationships we see in capitalism beyond
these building blocks are the opposite of personal? I'm not only
thinking of economy here but also - as another example - the
relationship between the state and individuals.
That's what I meant when I talked of a characteristic of modern
societies - being social entities with millions or even billions of
people making it impossible to even think in personal terms. These
parts of society seem to me to be rather different to those more
personal parts and I think they (can) have their own logic. And this
also means that the concept of gift exchange which may be useful to
understand personal relationships needs not be important to understand
these more non-personal relationships.
But there are more than one kind of social organization, at least
it is needed, in this context, to make a distinction between form of
'organization' which are build on either 'exchange' or 'sharing' --> then this
is a re-telling of what is the essentila value system of a given society.
May be my point above is your point here.
For me these comment came onto the list as part of a "writing-in-progress"
project. Where I already before I "stumbled" over oekonux.org was wondering
about the 'gift/not-gift' reality of free software --> leading me to the point
of taking a closer look at a small sidebranch of anthropological material which
is focused on "primitive hunter-gatherer societies' and the debate about how to
understand 'their' particular social organization which is based on 'sharing'.
Mausse? I heard of him. I think one needs to be a bit careful with
this because there is some danger for researchers to cast their own
exchange based thinking/ideology onto other cultures.
There were also threads about Mausse and this whole topic in the past.
You may want to check the thread starting at
http://www.oekonux.org/list-en/archive/msg01755.html
Then I found and began reading through the oekonux site, and could read that the
basic premise "it is not a gift" was accepted --> though without any extended
argument (to me it more stood forward as a provocation, which I definitely like
and thing is correct).
On the other hand - it would be interesting to elaborate further on the
question: What is it then, if not a gift?
Though I'd agree with StefanS that the question is put a bit weird,
I'll try an answer: Free Software and the way goods flow there is a
way to organize an economic system which proves to be (very) useful
and (very) adequate given the productive needs and the productive
potential of our time. That is may be the pragmatist answer but as I
see it pragmatism plays a rather big role in Free Software and
therefore this explanation matches its subject :-) .
3 weeks (23 days) ago Gregers Petersen wrote:
I will actually be talking on this subject at 23c3 (on the 27.12) in
Berlin - if anybody feel interested then I would be happy to respond
further :)
Though I always love to meet Oekonuxis in person I'm sorry but this
years my plans are different :-/ . May be other Oekonuxis are at 23C3?
Mit Freien Grüßen
Stefan
--
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