FearOfImbalance

Many people who are otherwise uncynical are attracted to a more TightlyAccounted economic system (ExchangeEconomy) because of fear of a more LooselyAccounted (GiftEconomy or community) system.

Fear, not so much that the world is full of cheaters and parasites who want to rip them off, but that the scene is full of inadequate or dependent people who won't reciprocate sufficiently, and if you become emotionally connected, will continue to demand from you. Safer then, to stick within the tightly-accounted market as much as possible, and deal with people only on an exchange basis.

What can be done about this fear?

Is it to be argued away, by trying to make an empirical claim that it's not true? (Though it's likely that many people know someone like this, even in their own families, so the probability of encountering more seems high.)

Do we instead offer some mechanism of protection from these people?

Do we claim (can we plausibly claim) that at large numbers the good swamps the bad; that the synergistic benefits, extra abundance of support (both material and emotional) produced within the gift-economy, can compensate, render this problem a minor nuisance, no worse than the stresses of the everyday exchange economy? (Which let's face it, has plenty of problems of its own - does the slacker who you always end up washing-up after really take more from you than the demanding boss who always needs you to put in a few more hours over the weekend? )