I have different people in my life but the people who are close to me include my mother and father, best friend and boyfriend who form part of my social capital. My mom always encourages me to do better in life and advices me on how to go about it. When I’m in need of money to buy clothes and just extras that I did budget for my father will most likely to come to my rescue. My best friend Mercia is always by my side, learning skills together like now we are attending swimming lessons together. This other time she asked me to buy her some earrings where I pass every day, and I did. I know next time she will also help me. On the other hand, my boyfriend basically does everything that my parents and friends do and more, I can rely on him to make sure I’m never bored. We go on dates every chance we get.

There is balance reciprocity amongst me and my friend. When I buy her those earrings she will give me money for it. Next time she will return the favor. I can think of a couple of times she helped me such as when I wanted to go to my boyfriend’s place for a sleepover and she told my mom I was at her house. She also accompanies me everytime I ask her and she will also ask me to go with her to run errands. We also do alot of things for fun such as going to watch a movie at the cinema, we both enjoy it. My boyfriend also falls under the balance reciprocity because we are not blood related. We share mutual feelings and support each other; we benefit somethings from each other. However, we don’t always expect for the other party to pay back after helping one another. We do it out of love and genuinely wanting to see our partner prosper and live better with us in the picture. The other one is generalized reciprocity which includes my family. My mom and dad have done so much for me such as making sure I eat; I have a somewhere to call home. I wear clothes which I can say I love, they paid for my school trips and for my school fees. In return I also run errands for them, I would go grocery shopping for them sometimes. I help them use the internet willingly and for free. I clean around the house and cook. I go to the Pakistan’s shops every day because of them.

I have a sense of being and belonging through the people in my circle. Which falls under obligation. According to the time that we take to reciprocate and the relative value shown with the people in my circle I can distinguish that my friend is in the balance reciprocity and my boyfriend is somewhere between the balanced and generalized reciprocity. My mother and father are in the generalized reciprocity.