Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This book examines the economy of sharing in a variety of social and political contexts around the world, with consideration given to the role of sharing in relation to social order and social change, political power, group formation, individual networks and concepts of personhood. Widlok advocates a refreshingly broad comparative approach to our understanding of sharing, with a rich range of material from hunter-gatherer ethnography alongside debates and empirical illustrations from globalized society, helping students to avoid Western economic bias in their thinking. Anthropology and the Economy of Sharing also demonstrates that sharing is distinct from gift-giving, exchange and reciprocity, which have become dominant themes in economic anthropology, and suggests that a new focus on sharing will have significant repercussions for anthropological theory. Breaking new ground in this key topic, this volume provides students with a coherent and accessible overview of the economy of sharing from an anthropological perspective.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of figures and tables(p. x)
• Introduction: Sharing - an alternative(p. xiii)
• 1 This is not a gift(p. 1)
• Introduction(p. 1)
• Ceci n' est pas un don(p. 2)
• The myth of reciprocity(p. 12)
• The realities of sharing(p. 21)
• Conclusion(p. 27)
• 2 Sharing the prey: Evolutionary assumptions(p. 30)
• Introduction(p. 30)
• Origins of sharing(p. 30)
• Assessing the primate heritage(p. 32)
• The sharing curve(p. 34)
• From origin to function(p. 38)
• The risk-reduction function(p. 45)
• The levelling function(p. 48)
• The versatility of sharing(p. 51)
• Conclusion(p. 56)
• 3 The ethnography of sharing demand(p. 59)
• Introduction(p. 59)
• Sharing as a complex institution(p. 60)
• Sharing and kinship(p. 64)
• The language of sharing(p. 68)
• Sharing and bodily presence(p. 72)
• Opportunities instead of obligations(p. 78)
• Making and unmaking demands(p. 83)
• Conclusion(p. 87)
• 4 The things we share(p. 89)
• Introduction(p. 89)
• Affording to share(p. 90)
• Sharing big items and big packages(p. 94)
• Sharing commensality(p. 98)
• Sharing a place(p. 100)
• Sharing Halbzeng in a community of practice(p. 106)
• Conclusion(p. 111)
• 5 It is a shareholder's world(p. 113)
• Introduction(p. 113)
• To hold a share - and to hold on to it(p. 114)
• Corporate holding and incorporated holding(p. 115)
• Becoming a shareholder(p. 121)
• Being a claimant(p. 125)
• Sharing in the time of shareholding(p. 127)
• Conclusion(p. 133)
• 6 Introducing the sharing economy(p. 136)
• Introduction(p. 136)
• Sharing economy as the answer - what was the question?(p. 137)
• When "sharing" is renting (out)(p. 140)
• When "sharing" means haying and insisting on keeping(p. 142)
• When "sharers'" insist on giving(p. 147)
• When paying tax means enabling sharing(p. 152)
• When "sharing" is just a button(p. 157)
• Conclusion(p. 161)
• 7 The time to share(p. 163)
• Introduction(p. 163)
• Over sharing - sharing all over?(p. 164)
• Premature giving(p. 169)
• Belated giving(p. 171)
• Picking the right time(p. 174)
• Ultimate sharing: Sharing to the end - but not beyond(p. 179)
• Conclusion(p. 184)
• Conclusions: The limits of sharing and the finite self(p. 187)
• Bibliography(p. 197)
• Index(p. 212)