Member-only story
2021: Creating a Lexicon of Future
R is for Reciprocity
Reciprocity is a social norm that involves in-kind exchanges between people — responding to another’s action with another equivalent action. It is usually positive (e.g. returning a favor). Reciprocity is an interesting concept from the perspective of behavioral economics, because it does not involve an economic exchange, and it has been studied by means of experimental games (see behavioral game theory). ~ Behavior Economics
Reciprocity makes it possible to build continuing relationships and exchanges. Fukuyama states that “If the institutions of democracy and capitalism are to work properly, they must coexist within certain premodern cultural habits that ensure their proper functioning” (p. 11). He goes on to say “Law, contract, and economic rationality and prosperity…. must as well be leavened with reciprocity, moral obligation, duty toward community, and trust…. The latter are not anachronisms in a modern society but rather the sine qua non of the latter’s success” (p. 11) According to the sociologist Alvin Gouldner (1960), this norm is nearly universal, and only a few members of society — the very young, the sick, or the old — are exempt from it. ~ Wikipedia, Reciprocity
