I'd thought I'd share this little bit of wisdom with you. You're unlikely to have come across it unless you're a money freak like me because it comes from Theodore Caplow's 1984 paper
Rule enforcement without visible means: Christmas Gift Giving in Middletown which was originally published in
American Journal of Sociology 89:1306-23. I came across it in James Carrier's excellent
Gifts and Commodities - Exchange & Western Capitalism since 1700. Are you ready for this?
Women are particularly resentful of oversized items that seem to say that the giver perceives them as "fat".
Theodore Caplow (1984: 1314)
You can keep your Higgs Boson, this is the sort of thing we need to know.
Anyways, to briefly update you, I'm still working on my Owning & Owing piece. Its turned from and extended blog post into something more like an essay.
Have a Merry Christmas!
