Instead it may be seen as the 'host' upon which the profit taking 'parasite' feeds. In fact, reframing Marx's 'surplus value', profit can be considered as a free gift from worker to capitalist, a gift which is also sustained by the gift of women's free labor in the home. Two basic paradigms or logics underlie our economic behavior. One is exchange, which is giving in order to receive an equivalent, and which requires measurement and quantification. The other is giftgiving which is giving to satisfy needs and which is therefore more qualitatively based.
Exchange is ego oriented because the purpose of the transaction is the well being of the 'giver'.
Exchange is adversarial and competitive and it creates independence and indifference to the need of the other. The receiver is convinced of the presence and importance of the giver by her satisfaction of her needs, while the giver is convinced of the presence and importance of the receiver by creating something that satisfies the other's needs. In fact giving to another also gives value to that person by implication. Exchange gives value to the self because it gives to the other only in order to give to the self. We have been confused because we have not questioned the logic of exchange, believing it to be part of 'human nature'.