Einführung

Abstract

This short introduction positions the following contributions within their contem-porary social and disciplinary contexts. In the current socio-economic situation, the majority of people make a living through transfers rather than solely on the basis of their own wage labour, even in countries with a high incidence of single-person households and an ideology of individ-ualism. A good theoretical grasp of transfers therefore continues to be an important task for anthropology. The rich previous work on gift exchange, reciprocity, redistribution and various forms of market exchange deserves to be revisited and updated in the light of new research. The present collection of articles aims at just such a critical re-assessment. Contributors particularly emphasize that research into modes of transfer goes right to the heart of fundamental questions about human sociality.