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A comment on Diamonds Keep Getting Cheaper. Parent comment

Re:Diamonds Keep Getting Cheaper by oarabbus_ on Wednesday November 13, 2019 @01:43PM (#21527757)
>I was always baffled by the idea that some people considered "gifts" to be the most important way to express love.

I'm baffled that you're baffled. Gift-giving is common in every culture, country, and religion in the world.

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Re:Diamonds Keep Getting Cheaper by blacksmith_tb on Wednesday November 13, 2019 @03:23PM (#21529068)
The function of gift-giving was an early topic of social anthropology, a classic treatment being Mauss' _Essai sur la Don_ [1]. It contains the (to me) stunning Inuit proverb "Gifts make slaves like whips make dogs" - gift-giving binds the recipient to the giver, it leaves them obligated. Which is not the rosy picture we have of it, but worth thinking about in this context (or any other).

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gift_(book)

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