Atomization of reciprocity, decoupling of price and value: How timebanks preserve social cohesion

• In Event: 50660 - Section on Marxist Sociology Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 2: Marxist Theory

Abstract

The literature has established (generalized) reciprocity as a structure of social order that responds to collective goods challenges. However, less is known about how both self-interestedness and altruism are structured to sustain such a system of exchange for the collective good in a community where on-the-spot market transactions are assumed to study exchanges in communities. To advance this front, we conducted qualitative inductive analyses on the timebank, a (hybrid) form of organization that builds communities with generalized exchange via the use of market calculative devices. In such an empirical context where economic processes are not separated from social terms, we found that tensions abound in three aspects between socialization and “de-socialization”, between quantification and “non-calculation”, and between entitlements and payment of gifts. We found that an interaction between two participants appears as a communal exchange when non-quantifiable qualities such as care and thoughts are exchanged but not priced; and that the interaction manifests as a market transaction when both parties calculated their respective benefits to the exact amount. Active and continued sensegiving is imperative to sustain a “social experience”. Implications on the redistribution of values among organizational members and the source of organizational advantages are discussed.

Authors

• Eugene Yi Cheong Tung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Kevin Yuk-Fai Au, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Frank Wing-Fung Ng, The Chinese University of Hong Kong