Obfuscatory Relational Work and Disreputable Exchange

Abstract

This article develops a model of how the structure of exchange can manage such disreputable exchanges as the commensuration of sacred for profane. Whereas existing research discusses the rhetorical reframing of exchange, I highlight structures that obfuscate whether an exchange is occurring and thereby mitigate exchange taboos. I identify three such exchange structures: bundling, brokerage, and gift exchange. Bundling uses crosssubsidization across multiple innocuous exchanges to synthesize a taboo exchange. Brokerage finds a third party to accept responsibility for exchange. Gift exchange delays reciprocity and reframes exchanges as expressions of friendship. All three strategies have alternative meanings and so provide plausible deniability to taboo commensuration. The article concludes by arguing that these sorts of exchange structures represent a synthesis of "nothing but" reductionism and "hostile worlds" moralism, rather than an alternative to them as Viviana Zelizer suggests.

A Theory of Tasteful and Distasteful Transactions

“…This paper shall argue-agreeing with the economists and non-utilitarian philosophers-that a repugnant act can be characterized by a single factor for 2 One could also include in this review the work of Debra Satz (1995Satz ( , 2008Satz ( , 2012 and Gabriel Rossman (2014). Similarly Philip Tetlock and Alan Fiske (1997) refer to acts or transactions that are viewed as "impermissible" or that cause "indignation" as taboo and define a taboo in moral terms: "A taboo trade-off is any explicit mental comparison or social transaction that violates deeply held intuitions about the integrity, even sanctity, of certain relationships and of the values that animate those relationships."…”

Hostile Worlds or Connected Lives? Research on the Interplay Between Intimacy and Economy

“…Bandelj 2012Bandelj , 2015Block 2012;Garcia 2014, Lainer-Vos 2014, but less so in studies of intimacy and economy. In our view, this is unfortunate as it is precisely in many supposed "taboo" exchanges (Fiske and Tetlock 1997;Rossman 2014), such as those of human body parts, babies, sex cells, and the like, that relational work is salient. Indeed, how are such "taboo" exchanges achieved?…”

Toward a Theory of Concealment

“…Goffman and the dramaturgical approach. Through his work on the presentation of self (1959) and stigma (1963), Erving Goffman's ideas about concealment have had, perhaps, the greatest influence on how sociologists have thought about secrets, lies, and other ways of managing personal information (Cowan 2013;Cowan 2014;Baldassarri and Cowan 2018;Kitts 2003;Rossman 2014). 3 Like scholars in the Symbolic Interactionist (SI) tradition (Mead 1934; Thomas and Thomas 1928), Goffman is interested in how individuals use symbols to generate and maintain definitions of the social situation.…”

“…Concealment of information affects human interactions in a multitude of ways: whether we conceal or reveal information to others predicts power and dependence, affects trust and cooperation, precludes social influence, and determines what we know-and think we know-about other people (Shapiro 2005;Goffman 1959Goffman , 1963Kitts 2003;Cowan 2014;Cowan and Baldassarri 2018;Talwar and Crossman 2011;Stattin and Kerr 2000;Rote and Smetana 2015;Jensen et al 2004;Rossman 2014;Schilke and Rossman 2018). Likewise, when sociologists study fake news, hidden identities, norms about teen sex, structural holes, abortions, gaslighting, lending money to friends and family, wall street deception, internet privacy, and codes of the underworld, we are implicitly studying concealment (Burt 2009;Miller et al 2003;Gambetta 2011;Cowan 2014;Simpson 2013;Marwick and boyd 2014;Mollborn 2017;Sweet 2019;Wherry et al 2019;Guess et al 2019).…”