Preface
This book is the result of more than ten years of research and teaching
about the themes of the gift and solidarity. It all started in 1992 when, in
conversations with anthropologist Willy Jansen, I was put on the track
of the gift literature. This was followed by an invitation from the Dutch
newspaper Trouw on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary to conduct
astud y into gift giving in the Netherlands, together with the sociologist
Kees Schuyt. The theme proved not only interesting because of its interdisciplinarity
and theoretical richness but also surprisingly mundane
and amusing. Suddenly it was less sinking to be asked about “your work”:
everybody gives gifts to others, and everybody has something to tell about
totally wrong gifts received or about dubious motives to give a gift to another
person. During the second half of the 1990s a remarkable development
occurred in the political tide inHolland: after having led a hidden
existence during several decades, the themes of solidarity and social cohesion
suddenly came to be exposed in full daylight. A broadly felt concern
about the current state of social cohesion and solidarity in our society
gave rise to extensive political and public debate. Policy documents were
written and plans were made to counter the perceived threat of a dissolving
community and diminished citizenship. Both the Dutch government
and the DutchCouncil of Scientific Research reserved money for research
in the field of social cohesion and solidarity.
From the beginning the connection between my previous research
theme of the gift and that of cohesion and solidarity had been clear to me.
For had the classical anthropologists not convincingly argued that gifts
confirm social ties and that the theory of the gift is a theory on human
solidarity? Extension of my former theme to that of cohesion and
solidarity was therefore a logical step. Inmy teaching I started to incorporate
the classical and modern theories on social solidarity, and as of 2001
I became a co-researcher in a large-scale study about family solidarity,
the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, financed by the Dutch Council of
Scientific Research. One question, however, had become more and more
pressing over the years: why are there so few theoretical connections and
crosswise references between the gift theory and theories on solidarity,
when it is clear as sunlight that both concern the coming into being and
the maintenance of social community? This question is central to this
book.
During a couple of delightful holidays in aBretonseaside hamlet the job
has been accomplished. This would not have been possible without the
help of a number of colleagues and other people who offered their views
and suggestions for improvement. I want to thank Jack Burgers, Louk
Hagendoorn, Mirjam van Leer, Maarten Prak, and Wilma Vollebergh
for their critical reading of former versions of Chapters 8 and 9. I a m
also grateful to Godfried Engbersen for his help in finding a suitable
terminology to describe the transformation of solidarity since the late
nineteenth century. The anonymous readers for Cambridge University
Press have been an enormous help, and I appreciate their careful reading
and invaluable suggestions. Finally, I am very grateful to Paul Verhey
for his interest, patience, and continuous friendship, both in the Breton
hamlet and elsewhere.
Several of the chapters of this book have been published previously. They
have been brought together herewith the explicit purpose of creating one
coherent whole that is more than the sum of its parts. Here follows the
acknowledgment of the origins of the various chapters. A former version
of Chapter 1 has been published as “Heirlooms, Nikes and bribes: Towards
a sociology of things,” Sociology 35 (2001): 59–75. A former, Dutch
version of Chapter 2 has been published as “De psychologie van de gift.
Over geven, vergeven en vergif” [The psychology of the gift:About giving,
forgiving and poison], Psychologie & Maatschappij 65 (1993): 306–319. A
slightly different version of Chapter 3 has been published as “Gratitude
and gift exchange,” in R. Emmons and M. McCullough (eds.), The Psychology
of Gratitude (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 195–
212. A former version of Chapter 4 has been published as “Women, gifts
and power,” in A. Komter (ed.), The Gift: An Interdisciplinary Perspective
(Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1996), pp. 119–132. A former,
Dutch version of Chapter 5 has been published as chapter 2 in A. Komter,
J. Burgers, and G. Engbersen,Het cement van de samenleving. Een verkennende
studie naar solidariteit en cohesie [The cement of society: An exploratory
study of solidarity and cohesion] (Amsterdam: Amsterdam
University Press, 2000), pp. 26–42. Parts of Chapter 6 have been published
as “The disguised rationality of solidarity,” Journal of Mathematical
Sociology 25 (2001): 385–401; and as “Reciprocity as a principle of
exclusion: Gift giving in the Netherlands,” Sociology 30 (1996): 299–316.
Pa rts of Cha pter 7 have been published in A. Komter andW. Vollebergh,
“Solidarity in Dutch families: Family ties under strain?” Journal of Family
Issues 23 (2) (2002): 171–189. Chapters 8 and 9 have served as the basis
of my inaugural speech “Solidarity and sacrifice,” Utrecht University,
January 2003.