MrBeast: Capitalism & Philanthropy
Then & Now: Philosophy, History & Politics
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The Importance of Prestige
In the 1960s, anthropologists studying tribes in Papua New Guinea discovered a phrase the tribes people had. They found that tribe leaders had become well-known and respected for giving gifts. This gift giving created a unique type of economy where who gave gifts to whom and when acted as a type of exchange for reputation and power. Oscar Wilde wrote a famous essay critiquing charity, saying that it was really about prestige. The French philosopher Jacques Derrida also saw gifts were full of double meanings - they can be selfless or calculated. Does this mean we should always look at Mr Beast videos like this cynically, as always motivated by profit and self-interest? Not necessarily, as D
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