Summary

Kemmerer is unsurprised when many of them answer by referring to social media, especially TikTok, as an example of a gift economy, because of the number of creators who are sharing their advice, skills, and knowledge on the platforms for free. The author suggests these small individual examples of gift-economy thinking are a helpful antidote to the despair she feels in the face of capitalism and the harm it does to the environment. She frames these actions as acts of resistance. Kemmerer summarizes how market economies are run on the basis of supply and demand whereas gift economies are run on the basis of sharing abundance.

The author reflects on the fact that we live in what is known as a mixed economy, rather than a pure market economy, because the market is to a certain extent regulated by the government via laws. She...