In her article, Payments and Social Ties, Viviana Zelizer explores three different kinds of payments: gifts, entitlements and compensation. Although she argues that these are the main forms of monetary payment, they can also be used in a social or sexual context as well. Zelizer uses the example of spouses to explain her theory. Spouses may exchange favors such as childcare, housekeeping or sex for a shared salary from their spouse. This is seen specifically in relationships where one spouse stays at home while the other works. However, monetary and sexual exchanges can become easily muddied. Another example provided by Zelizer included a college professor who purchased gifts for some of his female students. According to the professor, he saw the exchange as an act of inviting these women to be a part of his family whereas the female students took this exchange as an inappropriate attempt at courtship.
Compensation is often viewed as a direct exchange of money for a good or service. Some examples being paying children for doing chores or paying the plumber for fixing your sink. Entitlement has a person believing they have rights to a certain amount of money or action. This may translate to a man expecting sex after he pays for his date’s meal at a restaurant. A gift is seen as a person offering a good or service without expecting any kind of good or service in return. This might be holding the door for the person behind you or loading the dishwasher without being asked.
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