Exchange in Systems

Why this lens matters

Exchange includes money, gifts, favours, knowledge, attention, trust, stories and obligations—what moves through society and why.

Follow-ups

1. Who gives, receives, owes or profits?
2. Is exchange commercial, ritual, informal or forbidden?
3. What cannot be bought?
4. What debts or obligations remain?
5. What black markets or gift economies emerge?

Perspective shift

How would someone new to this society misunderstand the exchange?

Perturbation

What changes when exchange breaks down, accelerates or becomes unequal?

Example

Use this while working on the institutional and societal systems: choose one concrete detail and ask how exchange changes what it means.