Erasmus argued that wage labor was replacing reciprocal and festive labor worldwide, supporting this with anecdotal evidence. Although today, 40 years later, noncapitalized forms of labor mobilization are still quite important in many farming systems, this article still provides a very useful summary and a rich set of examples from the developing world and the US.
Festive groups usually involve drink and, as name implies, festivities. Groups may be in the hundreds. Exchange groups usually <10.
Both groups tend to be composed of co-ethnics.
Exchange groups tend to be among social equals, meeting repetitively, sometimes developing a semi-permanent character (especially if share equipment).
Obligations for reciprocation are weaker in festive, and so attendance is more variable.
Reasons? Farmers may need labor exchange at bottlenecks to get the work done quicker. Some data show there is no more total work done this way, but some farmers claim people work more in groups.
Some tasks must be accomplished quickly. Hall says, regarding Haitian farmers, "The problem of clearing 30 or more acres [the amount necessary to support a family] of tropical vegetation is impossible for one man. By the time he is ready to plant, the first acres cleared will be brush-covered again." And planting couldn't be done alone in time weather permits.
Some jobs require several operations simultaneously.
Festive labor also more associated with unpredictable labor needs. Predictable needs, even if urgent, can be planned for and are met by both festive and reciprocal.
Erasmus argues that festive labor is relatively uncontrolled and thus of low quality. This is why it tends to decline with agricultural intensification, which generally requires more skilled labor. (Netting 1993 provides a careful examination of the importance of high quality labor in intensive systems. Stone 1996 shows how when there is a premium on both intensification and group labor, it raises the premium on ethnic co-residence.)
Subsistence economies have perishable capital, which is given away in short run for prestige. With cash cropping you get acquisition of durables instead, so less festive labor. Cash cropping also reduces edible surplus, so you have to buy food for festive labor, which contributes to its being more expensive.
Wage and exchange labor can mix. In coffee growing areas in S. America,
exchange is common except at harvest when they pay each other rather than try
to work our exchanges complicated by their different labor needs.