gift
A gift (from giving , i.e. entertaining a guest) is the voluntary transfer of ownership of a thing or a right to the recipient without consideration - i.e. immediately free of charge for the recipient. In a figurative sense, you can also give someone your attention , your trust or your love .
General
Giving can be an expression of altruistic behavior . In this case, the giver unselfishly wants to bring joy to the recipient . Giving as a gift can also exert a certain social pressure on the recipient to be obliged to do a favor or a gift to the giver.
Items are often wrapped in gift wrap as gifts . Gift ribbon is a colored, decorative ribbon that is used to decorate gifts. Nowadays it is usually made of plastic and is attached to the gift with decorative bows .
A gift that does not do the recipient any good, but is supposed to bring them harm , is (in sophisticated language) a Danaer gift .
In Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wanders German Proverbs Lexicon there are 57 proverbs on the subject of giving and 69 on the gift ; z. B. Better to give than to borrow (No. 2; Volume 4, p. 142) or With gifts one can direct mother and daughter (No. 54; Volume 1, p. 1591).
Purposes
Commit accepted gifts, because the giver always associates them with an expectation of the recipient; From a sociological point of view, they are therefore a social sanction that demands a social response, such as a gesture of thanks, a gift in return, a friendlier attitude towards the donor or the cessation of hostile actions.
Possible motifs:
- Expression of gratitude for a gift received
- Hope for an equivalent or even higher value gift in return: "Throw the sausage at the bacon" ( popular saying ).
- Expression of love , friendship , affection or attachment, e.g. B. Bride gift
- Consolation , with children e.g. B. a candy after a fall; also a substitute for something that has been lost
- Gift-giving, willingness to give, generosity ( see also waste )
- Host or guest gifts: Guests are offered a "warm welcome" and the guest gives the host a gift (e.g. flowers, wine) as a thank you for the invitation (also called a souvenir )
- Serving guests in the pub a round (beer or schnapps)
- Anonymous donations to the less wealthy ( see charity , alms , donation ). To the giver, thanks appear to be given by God (“Vergelt's Gott”) or his “good conscience”, or by the superego in psychology ( Freud ).
- Initiation of a business or professional relationship ( promotional gift - see also bribery )
- for motivation or as a reward for the workforce or staff (e.g. special payments);
- Resources (storage capacity) should be conserved, goods with promotional effects are given away instead of disposed of.
Occasions
Popular gift occasions are parties and celebrations :
- Baby shower with gifts for the pregnant woman
- Birth or baptism (the newborn, including those who have recently given birth, or the person to be baptized are given presents)
- Birthday (the person whose birth is anniversary is given presents, but also entertains their guests)
- First communion , confirmation or comparable celebrations of other creeds
- Mother's Day (also " Father's Day "): The children give their parents presents.
- Name day (the person who celebrates the feast of his namesake receives small gifts)
- Easter : Easter eggs or sweets are often hidden as gifts for children.
- Christmas : A celebration of mutual gifts ("gift giving"). The Christmas gifts are also given out to small children as gifts from third parties (“ Santa Claus ”, “ Christ Child ”) - comparable social customs also exist elsewhere to relieve those who have received too many gifts from the obligation to return the gift.
- Annual donation from an association , publisher or institution to members
- Valentine's Day and Halloween have also been partially adapted as gift occasions in Germany.
- Wedding : The newlyweds usually receive gifts. In return, the wedding guests (conventionally in Germany by the bride's parents ) are also entertained and sometimes receive small gifts.
- Wedding day (silver wedding, golden wedding etc.)
- a passed exam (the high school graduate or student receives gifts)
- an anniversary (anniversary of starting work, founding a company, founding an association, starting a relationship, etc.)
- Burials (grave wreaths for the dead).
Furthermore, depending on the culture and occasion, guest gifts are also common when visiting. In diplomacy , gifts for guests are mandatory on state visits .
Giving in philosophy and social sciences
philosophy
The concept of the gift plays an important role in the philosophies of Emmanuel Lévinas and Jacques Derrida . It is discussed here in particular in connection with terms such as hospitality , economy and time (cf. the French polysemy of présent present / present and gift). According to Derrida, a gift is practically inconceivable without the expectation of a gift in return, but at the same time the concept of “gift” in its pure form excludes such an expectation. This "impossible possibility" (cf. paradox , aporia ) is the basis of an ethic of deconstruction .
Derrida's analyzes refer particularly to Martin Heidegger and his concept of “there is” as well as the famous essai sur le don by the French sociologist Marcel Mauss from 1925 ( see below ).
Ethnology, sociology
In a groundbreaking study, Bronisław Malinowski explored the fundamentals of gift economies on the basis of peoples of the South Seas ( cf. Kula ), in which there is a culture of gifts that works beyond the exchange economy. With such research, Marcel Mauss explained that many Western ideas of giving, taking, giving, receiving, etc. are based on the same logical foundations as the free market and accordingly only cover some aspects of giving.
In the tradition of the Indian Kwakiutl on the lower reaches of the Columbia River , it was inevitable among chiefs to return gifts more generously. Not infrequently, this meant that one (or both) would end up ruined.
Even today, many American tribes still give gifts in the form of the so-called "give away" (compare potlatch ) and relatives and friends are given rich gifts at events and ceremonies. These are often blankets, horses, even cars, or just practical everyday items.
psychology
According to the principle that a reward (giving) ensures learning, giving or the gift is, among other things, an influence on learning processes. By creating positive emotions in this way, learning is initiated. Even if the giver does not intend it, he takes care of the "changes in cortical representations" ( Manfred Spitzer ); it influences learning in the recipient (see: Reinforcement (psychology) and learning ). If a gift is given in this sense, the gift is given a strategic background.
history
In ancient Rome, gifts ( apophoreta ) were given during the New Year celebrations . This gesture should bring the giver good luck in the coming year.
Law
Germany
In German private law , a gift always requires acceptance , i.e. a mutual declaration of intent by the giver and the recipient. Only through this donation contract which comes right success one. In general, the popular principle "A gift is a gift - a repetition is stolen" applies. Legal exceptions to this as gross Un thanks be found at gift .
A distinction must be made between the donation made immediately (hand donation, § 516 BGB ) and the promise of donation (e.g. for the transfer of a property, for which formal requirements are to be observed , § 518 BGB). The donation requires a free donation from the giver's assets to the donee's assets, for which both contracting parties agree on the free of charge.
No gifts are, for example, the equipment of the child within the meaning of § 1624 BGB and the so-called unnamed gifts between spouses. One speaks of this when spouses turn to assets that have their legal basis in the existing marriage. In addition, the giver can order that the donee must have the donation credited to the inheritance portion in accordance with Section 2050 (3) BGB or the compulsory portion in accordance with Section 2315 BGB.
Employees such as civil servants are prohibited from accepting or keeping gifts under service law. This is to avoid that the objectivity in the performance of official business is impaired (see also acceptance of benefits ).
Austria
The Austrian ABGB regulates donations in Sections 938–942, 944 and 945. According to this, the free transfer of an item is a gift (Section 938 AGBG). According to § 285 ABGB, this term also includes claims and general rights. As in Germany and Switzerland, it is a mutual contract under the law of obligations . The contract is understood as a unilaterally binding contract for the donors. In order for it to be a donation under Austrian law, the donor must have a willingness to donate and act with the intention to donate. Free transfers, for example for advertising purposes, may therefore not be gifts. Since 1875, a donation agreement is only valid if the thing is not handed over immediately if a notarial act is carried out (§ 943 ABGB). This provision serves to protect creditors , even if it seems to contradict the legal feeling in the population.
Switzerland
In Switzerland , gifts are contracts that are aimed at providing a service free of charge without a pre-existing legal reason. In the Swiss Code of Obligations , donations have been regulated in Articles 239-252 since a revision since 1911/1912. The regulation shows strong influences of the German Civil Code . According to Swiss law, donations can not only be directed towards objects ( donations in kind ), but also towards the assignment of claims or the like. According to Swiss law, it is a contract under the law of obligations. In Switzerland, however, the assessment of whether it is a gift is to be assessed objectively and not according to the ideas of the parties.
See also
- Bad luck charm (gift) (superstition)
literature
- Helmuth Berking : Giving. On the anthropology of giving . Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1996.
- Kathrin Busch : Skilful giving. Aporias of the gift from Jacques Derrida . Fink (Wilhelm), Munich 2004, ISBN 3-7705-3940-0 .
- Alain Caillé: The double incomprehensibility of the pure gift . In: Frank Adloff / Steffen Mau (eds.): On giving and taking. On the sociology of reciprocity. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 2005. (Translation by Caillé: Don, intérêt et désintéressement: Bourdieu , Mauss, Platon et quelques autres . La Découverte, Paris 1994, pp. 239–248, 251–272.)
- Iris Därmann : Theories of the gift for introduction . Junius, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-88506-675-0 .
- Stephan Moebius / Christian Papilloud (eds.): Gift - Marcel Mauss' cultural theory of gift . VS, Wiesbaden 2006.
- Marcel Mauss : The gift. Form and function of exchange in archaic societies . Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 1990. (The groundbreaking sociological study on this topic, first 1923/24.)
- Francois Perroux: compulsion, exchange, gift. To the criticism of the dealer society . Schwab, Stuttgart 1961.
- Gerhard Schmied : Giving. On a form of social action , Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1996.
- Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander : German lexicon of proverbs , Edition Weltbild / Academic Publishing Society Athenaion; Volume 1-5
Web links
- Sociologist on giving: Keeping the relationship going Holger Schwaiger in an interview with Paul Wrusch in Die Tageszeitung (taz) on December 24, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. u. a. Jacques Derrida: Time to give I. Counterfeit money , Munich 1993
- ^ Bronislaw Malinowski: Argonauts of the western Pacific , [1922], ISBN 3-88074-450-5
- ↑ Marcel Mauss: The gift. Form and function of exchange in archaic societies , Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1968 (first 1925). Also reprinted in: M. Mauss, Soziologie und Anthropologie, Vol. 2, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer 1989. In the original Essai sur le don , in: Sociologie et anthropologie , Paris 1950
- ^ Manfred Spitzer: Learning - brain research and the school of learning, spectrum publishing house, Heidelberg, Berlin 2002; Pp. 180 f, 183
- ↑ Heinz Barta (ed.): Civil law. Outline and Introduction to Legal Thought , Chapter 3, Section E. (Donation and Avoidance of Creditors)
- ↑ Eugen Bucher: Swiss Code of Obligations, General Part , 2nd Edition, Zurich (Schulthess) 1988, § 6. (PDF; 54 kB)
