Exchange Theory in the Light of Cooperation and Mutual Assistance

This paper discusses the issues of cooperation and mutual assistance with regard to the theory of exchange as proposed by Marcel Mauss, Bronislaw Malinowski and Claude Lévi-Strauss. In this approach, exchange is a universal phenomenon of social life. Principles of reciprocity (do, ut des) and balance of services are viewed in the context of everyday life. The analysis presented is based on qualitative ethnographic research carried out in the Silesian Beskid at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The present-day role of the analysed forms of social activity, the rules governing their implementation, and the social consequences of their changes over time are discussed.