6533b838fe1ef96bd12a4ec1
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Plural gifting of singular importance: mass-gifts and sociality among precarious product promoters in eastern Germany
Gareth E. Hamiltonsubject
PersuasionSociology and Political Sciencemedia_common.quotation_subjectProduct promotionArts and Humanities (miscellaneous)EconomyState (polity)AnthropologyDevelopmental and Educational PsychologySociologyProduct (category theory)Nexus (standard)Socialitymedia_commonPluraldescription
In this article I explore and investigate the concept of ‘mass-gifts’ (Bird-David and Darr), based on fieldwork in eastern Germany among product promoters in wholesale and retail environments. After introducing mass-gifts, I show how they are employed by promoters for the intended purpose (persuading customers to purchase). However, mass-gifts are also appropriated by these precarious workers to create social networks. In so doing, I argue that they simultaneously recreate the social aesthetic of work in the state socialist era, where factories were a nexus of sociality – in stark reality to the social and economic precariousness faced today by promoters.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-05-01 | Social Anthropology |