In the Pacific Northwest, Native American tribe leaders established their power by giving everything away. They could afford to give everyone a gift, because they were so powerful and the gifts were a symbol of that power. Any leader who hoarded saw his power quickly diminish. Mauss argued that there is no such thing as a free gift. Everyone who gives a gift, he asserts, wants something in return. Then, quite suddenly, this ancient tradition changed. Money and structured society flipped the system, and now you get, you don’t give.
