The Structure of World History: From Modes of Production to Modes of Exchange - Softcover

Karatani, Kojin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822356767 ISBN 13: 9780822356769

Verlag: Duke University Press, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

In this major, paradigm-shifting work, Kojin Karatani systematically re-reads Marx's version of world history, shifting the focus of critique from modes of production to modes of exchange. Karatani seeks to understand both Capital-Nation-State, the interlocking system that is the dominant form of modern global society, and the possibilities for superseding it. In The Structure of World History, he traces different modes of exchange, including the pooling of resources that characterizes nomadic tribes, the gift exchange systems developed after the adoption of fixed-settlement agriculture, the exchange of obedience for protection that arises with the emergence of the state, the commodity exchanges that characterize capitalism, and, finally, a future mode of exchange based on the return of gift exchange, albeit modified for the contemporary moment. He argues that this final stage-marking the overcoming of capital, nation, and state-is best understood in light of Kant's writings on eternal peace. The Structure of World History is in many ways the capstone of Karatani's brilliant career, yet it also signals new directions in his thought.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

K¿jin Karatani is an internationally renowned theorist and philosopher. Previously, he was a professor at Hosei University in Tokyo, Kinki University in Osaka, and Columbia University. Among the dozens of books that he has written in Japanese, four have been translated into English: History and Repetition; Transcritique: Kant and Marx; Architecture as Metaphor: Language, Number, Money; and Origins of Modern Japanese Literature, which is also published by Duke University Press.

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THE STRUCTURE OF WORLD HISTORY

FROM MODES OF PRODUCTION TO MODES OF EXCHANGE

By KOJIN KARATANI, Michael K. Bourdaghs

Duke University Press

Copyright © 2014 Duke University Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-8223-5676-9

Contents

Translator's Note, vii, 
Author's Preface to the English Translation, ix, 
Preface, xiii, 
Introduction: On Modes of Exchange, 1, 
Part I: Mini World Systems, 29, 
Chapter 1: The Sedentary Revolution, 35, 
Chapter 2: The Gift and Magic, 50, 
Part II: World-Empire, 57, 
Chapter 3: The State, 63, 
Chapter 4: World Money, 81, 
Chapter 5: World Empires, 104, 
Chapter 6: Universal Religions, 127, 
Part III: The Modern World System, 157, 
Chapter 7: The Modern State, 165, 
Chapter 8: Industrial Capital, 182, 
Chapter 9: Nation, 209, 
Chapter 10: Associationism, 228, 
Part IV: The Present and the Future, 265, 
Chapter 11: The Stages of Global Capitalism and Repetition, 267, 
Chapter 12: Toward a World Republic, 285, 
Acknowledgments, 309, 
Notes, 311, 
Bibliography, 339, 
Index, 345, 

CHAPTER 1

THE SEDENTARY REVOLUTION

Pooling and Reciprocity

Since Marcel Mauss, anthropologists have studied how primitive societies are based on the principle of reciprocity. But an ambiguity remains with regard to reciprocity: should gift giving (redistribution) taking place within a single house hold be regarded as constituting reciprocity? In other words, how should we distinguish between reciprocity and the pooling of resources? For example, within the house hold, the basic unit of clan society, we find pooling and redistribution, but these cannot properly be called reciprocal. Even if these constitute a kind of gift giving, they are not carried out with the expectation of receiving a countergift. Accordingly, Bronislaw Malinowski, who researched the Trobriand Islands, distinguished transactions on the basis of motive, differentiating between those that were carried out for self-interest and those that were disinterested. In other words, he distinguished between reciprocal and pure forms of gift giving. Gift giving within house holds or small clan communities are instances of pure giving, characterized by an absence of the principle of reciprocity. But Mauss believed that even instances of what appeared to be pure gift giving were actually governed by reciprocity. If the donor feels a sense of satisfaction, then that in itself constitutes a kind of reciprocity, just as it does when the recipient feels a certain sense of obligation.

In clan societies it is difficult to distinguish between pure and reciprocal gift giving, between pooling and reciprocity. Marshall Sahlins, however, tries to draw a clear distinction between them: he argues that pooling is an activity occurring within a single house hold, whereas reciprocity occurs between house holds:

Pooling abolishes the differentiation of the parts in favor of the coherence of the whole; it is the constituting activity of a group. On the other hand, the house hold is thereby distinguished forever from others of its kind. With these other houses, a given group might eventually entertain reciprocal relations. But reciprocity is always a "between" relation: however solidary, it can only perpetuate the separate economic identities of those who so exchange

Lewis Henry Morgan called the program of the domestic economy "communism in living." The name seems apposite, for house holding is the highest form of economic sociability: "from each according to his abilities and to each according to his needs"—from the adults that with which they are charged by the division of labor; to them, but also to the elders, the children, the incapacitated, regardless of their contributions, that which they require. The sociological precipitate is a group with an interest and destiny apart from those outside and a prior claim on the sentiments and resources of those within. Pooling closes the domestic circle; the circumference becomes a line of social and economic demarcation. Sociologists call it a "primary group"; people call it "home."

What Morgan discovered as "communism in living" and what Marx called "primitive communism" can only exist in band societies, consisting of a limited number of house holds. Pooling that exists in clan societies is already under the sway of the principle of reciprocity. This is why Sahlins acknowledges that the principle of reciprocity penetrates into the house hold. Yet it is important that we retain the distinction between pooling and reciprocity.

It is also important to distinguish between the reciprocity of the gift and trade. For this purpose, Sahlins defines two extreme poles in order to explain how reciprocal exchanges are of a completely different nature from trade. At one extreme, reciprocity takes the form of pure gift giving, and at the other extreme, it takes the form of something like a war of reprisal. Moreover, he attempts to see how the character of reciprocity is spatially defined within the community. In other words, he thinks that the character of reciprocity displays different aspects depending on whether it is positioned in the core or on the periphery of the community. It can be differentiated into three levels, depending on relative kinship distance from the core house hold (family).

1 Core (the family): generalized reciprocity / the pole of solidarity (within a lineage)

2 Within a settlement: balanced reciprocity / the midpoint (within the sphere of a tribe)

3 Between tribes: negative reciprocity / the pole of asociality

Generalized reciprocity, the first item, is the kind of reciprocity found within a house hold (family). But it appears to be a kind of pure gift giving. Accordingly, insofar as we confine ourselves to looking within the core of the community, reciprocity gives the impression of being purely altruistic, filled with good will. We have to keep in mind, however, that there are two kinds of reciprocity: positive and negative. The negative form of reciprocity appears in the third example, between tribes. As examples of this, Sahlins discusses haggling, chicanery, and theft , and we could also more broadly include here the kind of reciprocity found in a vendetta. Even reciprocity that appears at first glance to be positive in fact harbors antagonism. For example, in a potlatch ceremony one subjugates others by showering gift s on them that they are unable to reciprocate.

In relation to these two extremes, the second example, which takes place within the sphere of a single settlement, represents the midpoint. If it approaches the first type, reciprocity takes on a positive form and even approaches the state of nonreciprocal pure giving. But if it approaches the third type, it becomes negative and antisocial. It is at the midpoint between these two that balanced reciprocity appears. Hence, we can conclude that reciprocity has different functions depending on its spatial deployment. In this case, the space of tribal society is not simply a space that spreads out horizontally from its core. Tribal society is stratified: its clans are composed of individual house holds, the tribe itself of clans, and above those we have confederations composed of tribes. Seen from this perspective, it is clear that the core is positioned near the lowest stratum, while the sphere between tribes is positioned near the highest stratum.

At any rate, it seems that we should think of the characteristics of reciprocity not so much in terms of the second type...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Duke University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0822356767
• ISBN 13: 9780822356769
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 376
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland