ABSTRACT
Although the spirit model and the reciprocity model explain the original motive for returning a gift differently, scholars of both schools agree that gifts always obligate the recipients to return gifts, and that a failure to return a gift puts the recipient at a disadvantage. Based on this shared assumption, most students of the gift also agree that in the game of gift exchange the donor gains prestige and power by transforming the recipient into a debtor. In situations where unbalanced transactions occur, gifts usually pass downward in the social hierarchy because giving is prestigious. In other words, it is the obligation of return, regardless of the motive, that generates and sustains the superiority of the donor. Hence Chris Gregory concludes that the superiority of the gift giver is "a feature that is common to gift exchange systems all over the world" (1982: 47; see also Befu 1966-7; Raheja 1988; Sahlins 1972; A. Strathern 1971; Vatuk and Vatuk 1971).
