In Western culture, it is usually believed …show more content…
The other Big Man, the one Ongka is giving the moka to, may be for going completely capitalist, but it seems that the economies complement each other. The people of Ongka’s tribe grow coffee and sell it to local factories for money; money allows them to give even bigger gifts than they could have before. Instead of just pigs and cassowaries, consumer goods like trucks can now also be given. This gives them the ability to gain even more influence as they give even more prestigious gifts. As mentioned before, the receiver of Ongka’s gift believes they should give up the practice, but Ongka states that if the moka is not returned, he will slit the other Big Man’s throat. This reveals that gift giving has been a huge part of the society for a long time and they will not easily give it up. Without a return of the moka, Ongka himself will have no reason to give a gift and will therefore lose a way to build his own status. Without the giving of gifts, the people of Papua New Guinea will have to create new ways gain influence among the people. For right now, it seems the people have found a way that allows the two different economies to coexist but this might not be the case for much …show more content…
These gift economies will eventually have to become some type of market economy to be able to participate in this globalization. If they do not, the larger capitalist economies can exploit them as cheap labor as they compete with other capitalist economies. Without becoming some sort of market economy, nations will be unable to enter this competition. They participate on a smaller scale, such as growing and selling coffee, but to grow into a world player, an adjustment must be made to their economy. This is not just so they can actually interact with other world powers, as they have already successfully incorporated that into their current economy. Rather it is a matter of social expectations, meaning that businessmen and political leaders from “first-world” countries will not take them seriously. In the culture of the powerful countries, people give gifts and do not expect anything in return. To rely on the delivery of a gift as well as a return gift of equal or better value to increase one’s social standing could be considered an undependable system. Businessmen and political leaders from other countries may see this policy as naiveté and not want to trust political leaders from gift economies with large amounts of money. This would be detrimental to a society with a gift economy attempting to become influential on a