Intracommunity Gifting at the Intersection of Contemporary Moral and Market Economies

Michelle F. Weinberger and Melanie Wallendorf

Journal of Consumer Research, 2012, vol. 39, issue 1, 74 - 92

Abstract: Consumer research on gifting has primarily focused on the interpersonal meanings and behavior patterns associated with dyadic gifts that are specifically given from one individual to another and in which the central goal is interpersonal relationship maintenance. Yet we find another type of gifting when community members in one social position give to community members in another position in which the central goal is intracommunity, rather than interpersonal, relationship work. This ethnographic research details the ritual practices, structural components, and meanings associated with intracommunity gifts employing the empirical context of the post-Katrina New Orleans' community celebration of Mardi Gras. Through this context, we detail how intracommunity gifting gives prominence to the logics of the moral economy while still drawing from those of the market economy. Beyond this context, we use our conclusions about the intersection of the market and moral economies to understand contemporary ambivalence to corporate sponsorships of local community events.

Date: 2012
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