The following handout is offered as a supplement to your reading, discussion and lecture of February 7. Our labor is distributed by what is called means of exchange. This exchange concept is a phenomenon basic to all societies but it is MORE than just about an economic necessity. The basis of reciprocity is giving and receiving.
Trade is a form of exchange.
The people described in his book live in the Trobriands Islands and they trade with different other islands. In a redistributive system all the goods produced are concentrated into a central point and then they are divided out in definite shares. On the basis of redistribution, persons involved will or will not form alliances with one another. In a market system goods are to be acquired in a direct exchange system. You buy something.