Generalized Reciprocity Explained: Examples of Reciprocity

Generalized reciprocity occurs when a person does something benevolent for someone without thinking there’s an immediate duty for the other person to repay them. This differs from other types of reciprocity—also noted in the fields of economic and cultural anthropology—in which the exchange is more immediate.

Think about doing favors for your friends with the knowledge they’ll do favors for you at a later point in time. Now think about going to a store to purchase something for a set price. The former situation is a type of generalized reciprocity, whereas the latter is one of balanced reciprocity. Altruism and trust motivate generalized exchanges, while more immediate economic concerns govern more balanced transactions.

Economic redistribution on a wider scale can also fit within the generalized reciprocity paradigm. Wealthy citizens of a society might give more in taxes or to private charities in exchange for the goodwill of the more underprivileged, rather than expecting a direct monetary repayment.

Anthropologists Bronislaw Malinowski and Marcel Mauss first began to spell out a theory of generalized reciprocity around the time of World War I. The two anthropologists set out to make sense of the “Kula exchange” throughout the Trobriand Islands near Papua New Guinea.

Malinowski and Mauss observed that island natives would travel over the ocean for hundreds of miles to exchange goods of no tangible economic value. The anthropologists concluded they did so primarily in the interest of generalized reciprocity or merely to build a sense of goodwill between tribes.

Since then, landmark texts like Marshall Sahlins’s Stone Age Economics have further expanded on the original contributions to the theory of generalized reciprocity. Sahlins broadened and defined other types of reciprocity as well.

There are several different types of exchange systems people might encounter in their daily lives. See if any of these three types of reciprocity sound familiar to you:

1. 1. Balanced reciprocity: In this form of economic exchange, people expect a prompt return of the favor. Balanced reciprocity characterizes nearly all instances in which a person pays a certain amount for a good or service in direct exchange for that good or service at the moment of purchase. This balances out the reciprocity between the two parties instantly, hence the name.
2. 2. Generalized reciprocity: Many forms of generalized exchange are types of indirect reciprocity—in other words, people return the favor on a nonspecified timeline. These sorts of nonmarket transactions are common among friends and family members especially. Suppose you have a relative who lives in New York City and pays for your ticket to fly out to see them. At some point in the future, you might pay for them to come visit you as a form of reciprocity.
3. 3. Negative reciprocity: Occasionally, people might try to extort gift giving or favors for more than they’re worth. This type of negative reciprocity crops up when one or both parties hope to manipulate the other. Consider dynamics in which one person holds all the power over a transaction, as in the case of someone who needs to sell something immediately.

Generalized reciprocity helps build a sense of trust that’s useful for a wide array of different purposes. Here are three reasons to make use of this type of reciprocal exchange:

• To improve your relationships: No matter what your affiliation is with a person, odds are they’ll feel more at ease with you if you engage in pleasant and cooperative behavior at all times. When someone does a favor for you, do your best to give them a similar gift out of the goodness of your heart at some point in the future. For example, when it comes to reciprocity in relationships, the gifts you exchange will serve as reminders of the goodwill you both have toward each other.
• To increase societal cohesion: Social psychology indicates that greater cooperation and benevolence on an individual level help improve society on a broad scale. Generalized reciprocity is a form of prosocial behavior that leads to greater social cohesion as a whole. Paying it forward as much as possible will help you do your part to create a more benevolent and cooperative world.
• To refine your ability to persuade: By establishing a norm of reciprocity, you ensure other people know you’ll help them out when they need you. This helps reinforce mutually positive decision-making, as both you and all other parties will be eager to assist each other whenever the opportunity arises.

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