On the Sociology of Primitive Exchange

In a discussion that has anthropological pretensions, ‘provisional generalization’ is no doubt a redundant phrase. ¹ Yet the present venture needs a doubly cautious introduction. Its generalizations have developed out of a dialogue with ethnographic materials – many of these are appended Tylorian fashion as ‘illustrative materials’ ² – but no rigorous tests have been applied. Perhaps the conclusions may be offered as a plea to ethnography rather than a contribution to theory, if these are not again the same thing. At any rate, there follow some suggestions about the interplay in primitive communities between forms, material conditions, and social relations of exchange.