Review of the book O lance, the terço and the quinhões, by Evandro Cardoso do Nascimento

Abstract

The research on mullet fishing on the coast of Paraná offers an exemplary case of the maintenance of socioeconomic relations of reciprocity in a contemporary activity, associated with practices of mutual help, sharing of common resources, and redistribution of products. The "terço" and the "quinhões" constitute equivalences of distribution of these products (in fish or in money), built on the basis of rules specific to fishing activity and not according to the laws of supply and demand or the labor market. The author's main contribution is to have been able to show, based on empirical material, how these structured relations of reciprocity produce material goods (fish and money) and, at the same time, generate affective and ethical values of respect, friendship, trust, and justice.