[Previous article in series: Why not just pay someone when needed?]
Michel Bauwens challenged my claim that markets are totalitarian:
well, this is absolutely factually and historically incorrect … even in tribal times, there have always been a multitude of exchange and reciprocity mechanisms, except for perhaps really small bands who had no contact with outsiders […]. market mechanisms were used with strangers and enemies in tribal societies …
Which however missed the point of my remark, since actually I had written:
Market production is totalitarian: if some goods (e.g. health care in your example) are only available on the market (by paying for them), then everybody must remain a market producer (engaging in some form of paid work or else living from the work of others), since otherwise how would they get the necessary money?
Clearly, reciprocity (possibly in the form of generalized reciprocity) exists in every society, as I pointed out before. (mehr …)