Growing interest with the practice of sharing news stories through social media has driven a move in scholarship away from the "news" aspect and towards the "sharing" aspect. As more news is ...distributed using social media, its use as social glue becomes increasingly significant. Accordingly, this paper places news sharing in the sociological tradition of gift-giving studies, viewing it as a manifestation of care, above and beyond the informational utility of a shared news item. This paper uses data from focus groups of 88 people who routinely share news on social media, and a survey of 2,000 news sharers. The intention is to complement existing studies of the sociality of news sharing by offering an account of the interplay between the who, why and what of news sharing which places it in the relational realm of gifts given and received as a mechanism to demonstrate care and contribute to social cohesion. It proposes the concept of phatic news sharing to account for this emerging use.
Emerging affordability problems in British housing have accentuated the role of parental support in facilitating entry to homeownership, with financial transfers and in-kind support smoothening ...transitions for many. This article explores housing trajectories, focusing on how dependency and autonomy are negotiated within and across generations in relation to gifts, loans and in-kind transfers for home purchase. It draws on the experiences of a group of young adults aged 25–35 and those family members who supported them in acquiring a home. We consider the nature of support, and how those giving and receiving it understand this exchange. We show that gifting for homeownership is an ‘ideal gift’, allowing givers to exercise moral control over the receivers by supporting a normalized tenure choice. Managing relationships of indebtedness between kin presupposes negotiations in which the maintenance of autonomy is paramount. The article examines four types of negotiations and their impact on intergenerational relations.
This article revisits Arnold Van Gennep’s Rites de passage from the point of view of gift theory. Gifts emerge as quasi-omnipresent and in association with all sorts as well as all phases of rites of ...passage in Van Gennep’s text. However, he never explicitly addresses nor problematizes this pervasive connection between gifts and rites of passage. In contrast with Marcel Mauss’s later Essai sur le don, moreover, Rites de passage tends to relate to gift-exchange in either mere instrumental, economic terms, or as a rather simple and efficient, binding and “unifying” mechanism, while displaying none of Mauss’s complementary attentiveness to the agonistic as well as more complex and contradictory features of gift processes. Yet, precisely the ideas of margin and liminality for which Van Gennep’s became best known, but which did not seep at all into his own treatment of gifts, may be drawn upon to approach gift interactions as ritual processes, perhaps even rites of passage, with liminal phases and anti-structural features of their own kind. Such an angle of analysis happens to converge with current approaches to the gift that have underscored the part it may play in fraught dynamics of mutual definition and recognition in human interactions. It might also suggest new ways of interpreting the deep, recurrent association between gifts and rites of passage, which Rites de passage unwittingly contributed to highlight, but still needs to be further explored and conceptualized.
People are fundamentally social beings and enjoy connecting with others. Sometimes, people reach out to others-whether simply to check-in on how others are doing with brief messages or to show that ...they are thinking of others by sending small gifts to them. Yet, despite the importance and enjoyment of social connection, do people accurately understand how much other people value being reached out to by someone in their social circle? Across a series of preregistered experiments, we document a robust underestimation of how much other people appreciate being reached out to. We find evidence compatible with an account wherein one reason this underestimation of appreciation occurs is because responders (vs. initiators) are more focused on their feelings of surprise at being reached out to. A focus on feelings of surprise in turn predicts greater appreciation. We further identify process-consistent moderators of the underestimation of reach-out appreciation, finding that it is magnified when the reach-out context is more surprising: when it occurs within a surprising (vs. unsurprising) context for the recipient and when it occurs between more socially distant (vs. socially close) others. Altogether, this research thus identifies when and why we underestimate how much other people appreciate us reaching out to them, implicating a heightened focus on feelings of surprise as one underlying explanation.
Fermented rice bran, when used as a carbon source in a biofloc system, can improve water quality, growth, and feeding efficiencies of cultured species. The present study delves into the effect of ...fermented rice bran as a carbon source on the growth and survival of Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (GIFT) fry. Additionally, the study investigated its impact on water quality, intestinal histology, proximate composition of fish and biofloc, total plate count of the experimental tank, and fish gut in the biofloc system. The study employed a completely randomized design with five different treatments: NFRB+BFT (Non-Fermented Rice Bran), FRBW+BFT (Fermented Rice Bran with Water), FRBP+BFT (Fermented Rice Bran with Probiotic), FRBY+BFT (Fermented Rice Bran with Yeast), and a clear-water system (with daily water exchange of 10%). The experimental duration was 60 days. The GIFT fry with an average weight of 1.04 ± 0.02 g were randomly distributed in High Density Polythene (HDPE) tanks of 110 L capacity at a stocking density of 250 individuals (ind.) m−3. Results indicated that the weight gain %, length gain %, Specific Growth Rate (SGR), and Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) in FRBP+BFT and FRBY+BFT treatments were similar, with no significant differences (p > 0.05) and significantly higher (p < 0.05) than other treatments. At the end of the experiment, FRBP+BFT and FRBY+BFT treatments showed lower ammonia-N values. The histological study of GIFT showed a number of villi and villi length in FRBP+BFT and FRBY+BFT were similar with no significant differences (p > 0.05). The protein, lipid, and ash content of fish and biofloc were similar with no significant differences (p > 0.05) in FRBP+BFT and FRBY+BFT treatments. The total plate count of fish gut and water in FRBP+BFT and FRBY+BFT treatments was similar and significantly higher (p < 0.05) than the other treatments. Overall, the results indicate that rice bran fermented with both probiotic and yeast as a carbon source showed similar growth performance and improved water quality in rearing GIFT fry in a biofloc system.
•GIFT strain of Nile tilapia is favored in aquaculture.•Expansion of aquaculture is vital for increased production.•Biofloc system is an eco-friendly aquaculture technique.•Fermentation of rice bran enhances its solubility and efficiency in biofloc system.•Among five treatments, probiotic and yeast-fermented rice bran is a better source of carbon for rearing GIFT fry in a biofloc system.
The effects of arginine levels in diets on growth performance, survival, and haemato-biochemical responses and gene expression of genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT) juveniles raised in inland ...saline water (ISW) of 10 ppt were evaluated through a 60-day growth trial. Seven isoproteinaceous (⁓320 g protein/kg), isolipidic (80 g/kg) and isoenergetic (16.8 MJ DE/kg) diets with graded levels of arginine viz. A10 (10 g/kg), A12.5 (12.5 g/kg), A15 (15.0 g/kg), A17.5 (17.5 g/kg), A20 (20.0 g/kg), A22.5 (22.5 g/kg) and A25 (25.0 g/kg) were prepared. Acclimated GIFT juveniles (3.75 ± 0.017 g) were randomly assigned into seven treatments in triplicate with 15 fish/replicate and fed with respective diets thrice a day on a satiation basis. The percent weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio, whole carcass protein, tissue alanine and aspartic acid aminotransferase activities, serum total protein, albumin and globulin concentration and expression of IGF-1 & IGF-1R genes of fish significantly increased, while feed conversion ratio significantly decreased with increasing arginine in the diet up to 17.5 g/kg and decreased thereafter. Additionally, white blood cell count increased with rising arginine levels in the diet. However, body indices, survival, whole carcass lipid, total ash and essential amino acids contents, activities of digestive and antioxidant enzymes, serum glucose level and blood haemoglobin level and red blood cell count of fish remained unchanged for different treatments. Based on broken-line regression and second order polynomial regression models in relation to hepatic IGF-1 gene expression and percent weight gain, the dietary optimal arginine level was found to be 15.97 and 16.76 g/kg and 17.06 and 17.41 g/kg, respectively with the optimum range of 15.97 to 17.41 g/kg for successful culture of GIFT in ISW of 10 ppt salinity.
•The dietary arginine requirement of GIFT juveniles reared in ISW of 10 ppt salinity was estimated.•The growth performance and feed utilization were significantly improved with increases in dietary arginine up to 17.5 g/kg level.•The optimum dietary arginine requirement for GIFT was estimated between 15.97 to 17.41 g/kg diet.•WBC count increased linearly with the increase in the dietary arginine level.
We investigated a type of mere similarity that describes owning the same item as someone else. Moreover, we examined this mere similarity in a gift-giving context, whereby givers gift something that ...they also buy for themselves (a behavior we call “companionizing”). Using a Heiderian account of balancing unit-sentiment relations, we tested whether gift recipients like gifts more when gifts are companionized. Akin to mere ownership, which describes people liking their possessions more merely because they own them, we tested a complementary prediction: whether people like their possessions more merely because others own them too. Thus, in a departure from previous work, we examined a type of similarity based on two people sharing the same material item. We find that this type of sharing causes gift recipients to like their gifts more, and feel closer to gift givers.
Guanxi as Social Exchange Barbalet, Jack
Sociology (Oxford),
10/2018, Volume:
52, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
After reviewing social exchange theory and identifying emotions as key to exchange relations the article introduces Chinese guanxi as a form of gift exchange, elsewhere treated in terms of its ...network attributes. The obligatory nature of exchange, noted by Mauss and extensively discussed by Blau, is explained through ‘social sentiments’ that substantiate assurance in exchange. The emotions-complexes renqing and ganqing, basic to guanxi, are outlined. Social esteem as a consequence of participation in exchange distinguishes the latter from bribery, in which coercion predominates. The article advances sociological understanding in these and associated ways by regarding exchange and guanxi as arenas of emotion practices.
Five studies examined whether the practice of regifting—a social taboo—is as offensive to the original givers as potential regifters assume. Participants who imagined regifting a gift (receivers) ...thought that the original giver would be more offended than participants who imagined that their gifts were regifted (givers) reported feeling. Specifically, receivers viewed regifting as similar in offensiveness to throwing gifts away, yet givers clearly preferred the former. This asymmetry in emotional reactions to regifting was driven by an asymmetry in beliefs about entitlement. Givers believed that the act of gift giving passed title to the gift on to receivers, so that receivers were free to decide what to do with the gift; in contrast, receivers believed that givers retained some say in how their gifts were used. Finally, an intervention designed to destigmatize regifting by introducing a different normative standard (i.e., National Regifting Day) corrected the asymmetry in beliefs about entitlement and increased regifting.
PurposeThis study aims to investigate the factors that affect an audience's purchase decisions on a new type of social media, namely live video streaming platforms.Design/methodology/approachThis ...study is based on data from an online survey providing 488 valid responses. These responses are used to test the research model by employing partial least squares (PLS) modeling.FindingsThree antecedents (consumer competitive arousal, gift design aesthetics and broadcaster's image) influence the audience's purchase decisions (impulse buying and continuous buying intention). Chinese impression management (mianzi) acts as a moderator. Self-mianzi, mutual mianzi and other mianzi (i.e. three subtypes of mianzi) moderate the effects of consumer competitive arousal, gift design aesthetics and broadcaster's image on impulse buying.Practical implicationsThe findings encourage practitioners developing marketing strategies for live video streaming platforms in the Chinese cultural context to consider peer influence, gift appearance, broadcaster's image and mianzi.Originality/valueDrawing on the community gift-giving model and face-negotiation theory, this study provides an integrated research model to investigate a new type of social media (live video streaming). It offers insight into virtual gifting behaviors by confirming the effects of three antecedents on the audience's purchase decisions, with mianzi acting as a moderator.
