ANTH100 B002 Sum 14: Forums

Generalized Reciprocity

Generalized reciprocity is the proffering of a gift without the expectation of immediate return. Unselfish sharing falls within this category, as does the idea of "paying it forward," when the value of the exchange is often entirely social and non-tangible.

Balanced Reciprocity

Balanced reciprocity demands an immediate reward for giving. One common modern example is the baby shower, where a guest is expected to bring a gift in exchange for sharing a meal and social interaction. A guest may choose not to bring a gift but they risk losing social credit among their peers.

Negative Reciprocity

Negative reciprocity implies that one side loses in the exchange or receives less than they expect. Cheating, manipulation and hard bargaining are often involved in negative reciprocity, although taking things by force is another form.

In various aspects, cultural evolution and biological evolution are analogous to each other. In
case of biological evolution gene is the basic unit that undergoes change and in case of cultural evolution it is human behavior. However, behavior is susceptible to bigger and highly drastic changes as compared to gene. If we check we can mark that very little genetic change has occurred over the last 35,000 years and yet the changes in terms of culture have been vastly big. This may suggest that there is no linkage between cultural and biological evolution or cultural evolution happens at a faster rate even when there is very little or no biological evolution. In case of the human society, cultural innovation has been taking place at a very high rate since the species evolved and as time progresses it grows faster. There can also be large cultural differences between two humans of similar genetic makeup.

Yet, there are similarities between cultural and biological evolution and both share the same
fundamental properties of variation, selection and inheritance. Cultural development has
remained a significant feature of human evolution and as humans evolved biologically; their
culture has also evolved with time. The patterns of development of communication systems
among humans may be parallel to the pattern of biological evolution in them. An important
linkage between biological and cultural evolution is that genetic evolution determines features like basic anatomy which affect intelligence and in turn intelligence determines the scope of cultural evolution and innovation. Various evolutionary biology concepts have also proved successful at explaining various cultural phenomena. But, while cultural and biological change may be analogous in various aspects there are still limitations to this analogy. Mainly, it is because at various points cultural transmission differs so greatly from biological evolution that successful application of biological approaches to culture may become problematic. Moreover, the difference between biological and cultural transmission also may be large in terms of selection and preservation. It is due to these limitations that many scholars have also held the position that there cannot be any analogy between cultural and biological evolution.