送禮的社會功能在西方與中國是有差異的，這差異牽涉到兩者所重視的社會與道德上的價值。基督宗教和自由主義，使西方發展出一套「禮物是白白給的」的強而有力的概念。此概念強調禮物是自發性的、無私的、不受到任何外在的道德上、社會上的約束。這樣，禮物的關係性的功能被縮小到對於送禮者來說重要的人際關係的範圍中，例如，家人或摯友等；或是用來支持弱勢者的需要。從西方的眼中來說，送禮，是一件獨立的事件，因此禮物的關係性功能較微弱並且缺乏凝聚社會的影響力。反而言之，在中國人的社會中，送禮是一件建立及延續人際關係的傳統方法。對中國人而言，送禮原本意涵著一種給予、接受和報答的義務，根深蒂固在傳統文化價值和假定當中。因此，送禮在維持長時間的人際關係上扮演著重要的角色，並且有堅固社會凝聚力的功能。西方和中國在社會上對於反對賄賂或貪污時也存在著差異性。在西方，從法律的角度來反對賄賂，但是以這樣的方式去處理卻是有限度的。然而在中國的社會卻是依靠著道德的力量來束縛賄賂與貪污的行為，不過因為在現代的中國社會中，人際關係產生了疏離，所以反對賄賂只用道德力量的束縛是不夠的。此篇文章論點，首先，賄賂與送禮皆有授予及回報的意涵，應合併討論；第二，目前對於西方和中國社會在送禮的行為與反對賄賂觀念中雖然有差異，但是西方與中國社會在這兩種行為的觀念原則上是互補的。最後，建議反對賄賂的理想方式，乃在於結合西方的法律約束力與中國人社會道德的約束力。

There are striking differences between western and Chinese societies with regard to the functions that gifts fulfill in them. These differences have social and moral implications. Under the influence of Christianity and liberalism, the western tradition developed a strong notion of “free gift,” or the gift which is spontaneous, disinterested, free of collective moral obligations and external social constraints. Its interactional role has been confined to a small circle of important relationships, or to charitable giving. The gift, seen by Westerners as an isolated event, has a weak relational function and a limited influence on social cohesion. In contrast, in the Chinese societies, the gift has traditionally served as a means of establishing and maintaining relationships. For the Chinese, gifts primarily carry moral obligations (to give, to receive and to reciprocate) ingrained in cultural values and assumptions. From such a perspective, gifts play an important role in sustaining relationships over a long period, and thus affect social cohesion. Western and Chinese societies also differ with regard to the ways they attempt to deal with bribery (corruption). In the West, combating bribery takes predominantly a legal form. Yet ascribing the responsibility of dealing with corruption only to the legal system has its limitations. The Chinese, on the other hand, have traditionally emphasized social and moral pressures as forces constraining corrupt behaviour. But as the traditional networks of relationships begin to break down, the social constraints turn out to be too weak to contain corrupt tendencies. The study demonstrates that, first, gifts and corruption are interrelated parts of complex relational and reciprocal phenomena, and second, the differing functions of gifts and approaches to dealing with bribery, as found in the western and Chinese traditions, are complementary. Finally, the suggestion is made that in combating bribery, a concerted modus operandi, based on the strengths of both western and Chinese approaches, is the right way forward.