The antecedents of exchange are the subjective forms of appropriation of alien possessions, robbery and gift-giving—just as presents given to the chief and penalties imposed by the chief represent forestages of taxation. Social regulation appears as the first suprasubjective possibility which is reached in the course of this development, and this in turn prepares the way for objectivity in the factual sense.

XREF: Connects to the reader's likely interest in institutional origins and how social practices crystallize into formal systems, echoing themes in political economy and anthropology of the state.

DEFINE: Clarifies the conceptual distinction between subjective forms (robbery, gift) and suprasubjective social regulation that precedes factual objectivity.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 270