Its essence lies in a certain form of giving and the reciprocal circulation of gifts, i.e., items mutually exchanged among the individuals of a society or its groups. They also claim that in addition to classical business relationship based on the requirements of profit, growth and prosperity, there existed and still exists a relationship among people, the essence of which is reflected in the disturbance of the traditional scheme of the market, the scheme of individualism, capitalism, etc.
Their opinion is just the opposite of what the theory and practice of the main economic stream understands under the notion homo oeconomicus, i.e., a human being guided by market laws and principles. Therefore, this phenomenon has a specific and unique form in Serbian life and customs, and rather than discouraging, it motivates thoughts about gift-giving and open- ness to others (which is related to it) under these conditions.īased on the knowledge of other cultures and analyses of the long-term historical development of progress in the West, a group of scientists from the fields of anthropology, ethnology, sociology and economy have come up with the opinion that interpersonal relationships are not only a result of the effect of economic and strategic powers, but that people create bonds which are part of more complex social relationships. Therefore I would like to emphasize here that location, cultural conditions and other historical and economic aspects form the social relationships and how they are manifested. Several Explanations of Gift This essay will examine several approaches of authors to gifts and reciprocity in society followed by a description of part of my research in Serbia.ĭue to the space constraints of this essay, this description provides only a fragment of the information required to really understand the position of gifts among Eastern Christian orthodox worshipers and the monastery communities in Serbia. The main concept of this work through which I tried to understand and describe in greater detail the relationship between worshipers and the monastery community, monks and nuns, was the concept of gifts (we shall also encounter the term the gift economy) and reciprocity. I returned several times to the monasteries in the autumn of 2014 and the late spring of 2015. In general, whether the relationship of Serbian worshipers to monks and nuns in monasteries can be looked at even from the perspective of mutually exchanged items or gifts.
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