Organizar: suspensión de la moralidad y reciprocidad negativa

Abstract

Taking the concept of reciprocity as its starting point of discussion,the author  proposes the analysis of negative reciprocity as a necessary and substanti­ ve aspect of the general concept of reciprocity. Reciprocity is based on a shared mora­ lity in its positive forms and on the break,  reverse or suspension of the moral order in its negative forms. The discussion is based on the ethnographic account of the so­ cial relations present among inmates in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The Auschwitz extreme  case provides on the one hand, a whole range of nuances and complex articulations  regarding different orders of morality, transftr of resources and power hierarchies. On the other, it shows the usefolness of a concept of recipro­city that incorporates the negative side of reciprocal relations.