The 1-Up Economy

Within Hyde’s idea of Gift Economy there exists an ideal where people give of themselves without expectation therefore allowing for a beautiful sense of selflessness and generosity between people. This idea would allow for artists to produce their art and for it to be viewed as a “gift” rather than a gift that one can stick a monetary amount onto. Other works that people would create with their normal jobs would also be considered gifts to the whole, creating a collective whole to which everyone contributes to and benefits from.

Aside from talking about the obvious transition into socialistic ideas, I would prefer to discuss how this type of gift economy would not be able exist anywhere else other than paper. Unless there was a perfect society completely devoid of the follies of man that exist within greed and pride, the giving of gifts will always hold a place of hierarchical value whether that value be monetary or otherwise. People have a natural tendency to assign value to things which is apparent even with the clothes that you picked out for yourself today. Why pick a suit over sweatpants? The gift of both has been provided to you by those who took the time to produce them. Or would your nakedness serve as a "gift" to those who would enjoy the sight? This raises the question of "What is a gift, and what constitutes one?". 

The act of the gift giving would then create a sort of prestige about it. Those that gave the bigger gift or provided the most amount of gifts would be regarded in a higher standing than those who had given less. But in making that distinction then the act of gift giving becomes associated with value as one person's gift is valued more favorably over another's rather than just accepting them all as gifts no one greater than the other. This type of gift giving was used in the Moka Exchange in New Guinea where whomever gave the "greater" gift was considered a better "bigger" man and almost instilled a feeling of debt within the gift recipient. 

In summary, I believe although it is nice in theory, a gift economy leads to a kind of situation where everyone may seemingly try to give of their own kind nature but end up looking spiteful and childish in the long-run when in competition for the bigger gift giving. 

As an example, this type of gift giving is seen within this particular scene in bridesmaids where each tries to give the bigger gift to their friend through speech, until it becomes more of an awkward competition than come from a place of sincerity.