RETHINKING  EXCHANGE

The notion of economic exchange based on rational and morally neutral self-interest is the only one available to economic theory today. This notion has been widely applied to human behaviour to explain every aspect of society as a process of bargaining. In response to this approach, recent years have seen a flourishing of radical critiques, fuelled by the economic, political and environmental crisis, which propose moving beyond economic exchange as a key element of social life towards various forms of sharing economy. The scope of this project lies within this polarisation and attempts to overcome it by going back centuries, when the modern notion of economic exchange was conceived and this polarisation did not yet exist. This project aims to show that exchange is not merely the result of self- interested indifference to the most pressing social issues that make up the foundations of our being together.