Reciprocity Past and Present

Abstract

The human tendency for reciprocity and collaboration is an innate trait that has developed through a long process of evolution. The system of mutual relations between rulers and subjects has existed in one form or another in practically all societies with hierarchies. Early human communities and individuals organized their internal and mutual relations through the institution of the gift, based on reciprocity and retributive moral feelings while the present-day welfare state is based on an informal social contract between the state and its citizens. Reciprocity, however, is associated in different ways with the respective principles by which different welfare states operate. This concluding chapter summarizes the broad history of reciprocity in past and present societies.