Strategic Affection? Gift Exchange in Seventeenth-Century Holland

Gifts, from objects to hospitality and from poems to support, are a means of establishing and maintaining social ties. This study focuses on the nature of seventeenth- century Dutch social relations through the exchange of gifts by a wide range of individuals, from schoolmaster and artisan to poet a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Thoen, Irma (auth)
Format: Electronic Book Chapter
Language:English
Published: Amsterdam University Press 2006
Series:Solidarity and Identity
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Summary:Gifts, from objects to hospitality and from poems to support, are a means of establishing and maintaining social ties. This study focuses on the nature of seventeenth- century Dutch social relations through the exchange of gifts by a wide range of individuals, from schoolmaster and artisan to poet and regent. Their gift-exchange behaviour is compared to contemporary gift exchange to show that both strategy and affection are necessary elements of social relations at any given time, and that what changes most is not the system but the discourse of exchange.
Geschenken, in de breedste zin van het woord van objecten tot gastvrijheid en van gedichten tot steun, zijn een middel om sociale relaties tot stand te brengen en te onderhouden. In dit boek wordt de aard van zeventiende-eeuwse sociale relaties onderzocht aan de hand van het geschenkgedrag van een aantal individuen, zoals schoolmeester Beck, ambachtsman Verbeeck, dichter Hooft en stadhouder Willem Frederik. Een vergelijking met twintigste-eeuws geschenkgedrag toont aan dat niet de praktijk van geschenkrelaties is veranderd, maar de manier waarop men erover hoort te praten. Dit verklaart het veelal strategische beeld dat men nu over zeventiende-eeuwse relaties heeft.
Physical Description:1 electronic resource (288 p.)
ISBN:9789053568118
Access:Open Access