Economics
In Anthropology
Key Terms
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Economic System
Balanced Reciprocity
Capital
Capitalism
Firm
Generalized
Reciprocity
• Household
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Kula Ring
Leveling Mechanism
Negative Reciprocity
Potlach
Prestige
Productive Resources
Reciprocity
Redistribution
Surplus value of labor
What “Economic” means in
Anthropology
• The study of ways in which the choices
people make combine to determine how
their society uses its scarce resources to
produce and distribute goods and services
Economics in Anthropology
• Distribution, exchange and consumption of
good are embedded in social political and
economic relationships
• Economic relationships: reciprocity,
exchange, and consumerism
Point # 1--Economics
• Norms governing production, distribution
and consumption of goods and services
are within a society
• Deals with the relationship of things to
people and people to one another
Production (Making a Living)
• Way Production is organized has
consequences for the family, kinship and
descent and political organization
Agriculture in Southern Mali
• Children help farm when they are very
young, thus tend to have many children
• Large families can cultivate more land and
therefore, are generally more wealthy than
small families
• Leaders acquire political and social
prestige that is derived from having wealth
and many relatives
Point #2
• In non-industrial societies, production is
carried out by groups such as families,
larger kinship groups or local communities
• Distribution, exchange and consumption of
goods are embedded in social, political
and economic relationships
Marriage Celebration
• Marriage celebration connects two families
and builds networks of relations
• Marriage is also a time for the exchange of
culturally appropriate gifts. It is a form of
balanced reciprocity
Religious Feast Honduras
• Community celebrates the feast of its
patron saint.
• Everybody in community contributes to the
cost of the feat in culturally appropriate
ways.
• Usually one family is selected as the host
of the feast. They accumulate expenses
• Example of Redistribution
Farmers Market
• Guatemala
• Local market for local peasants who sell
surplus for money they need for items they
require and for services including school
fees for their children
• Large Supermarkets like Wal-Mart are
destroying local peasant based economies
because they can sell things cheaper
Distribution
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Reciprocity
Redistribution
Market
Consumerism
Reciprocity
• General Reciprocity—Give more than you
expect back. No immediate return. Parents and
H&G
• Balanced Reciprocity: expect back the value
which you gave. Return is expected in
reasonable time/ Example: U.S. birthday gifts
• Negative: get back more than you give. General
and Balanced Reciprocity maintain relationships
while negative reciprocity ends relationships
Family Celebration
• Generalized Reciprocity
• Mutual gift giving
Bridal Shower Lunch
• American Culture
• Balanced Reciprocity
• Cost of lunch averages out to gifts given to
the soon to be bride
Redistribution
• A form of exchange in which goods ar
collected feom or contributed by members
of the group and then redistributed to the
group often in the form of ceremonial feats
• Potlatch—a form of competitive giveaway
practiced by the Kwakiutl and other groups
of the northwest coast of North America
• U.S. Taxes
Disaster Relief
• American Culture
• Disaster relief is example of redistribution.
Goods—clothing and food are collected by
center, for example, the American Red
Cross and distributed to local community
flood victims
Purpose f Redistribution
• In Tribal societies, it is a way of providing
reserves to be used in times of shortage
and was particularly necessary where food
preservation techniques were not well
developed
Leveling Mechanism
• A practice, value or form of social
organization that evens out wealth in
society
• Ensures social goals along with economic
ones
• If an economy is based around
redistribution, those who desire power and
prestige will distribute as much wealth as
they receive
Capitalists
• Owners of the means of productions, i.e.,
corporations, factories, plants, businesses
• Buys worker labor by paying worker a
wage
• Wage is never equal to the cost of labor
but it is what the market will support
• Capitalist Primary goal: personal profit
Market Exchange
• An Economic system in which goods and
services are bought and sold at a money
price determined primarily by the forces of
supply and demand
• Principle distribution mechanism in most of
the world’s societies today
• It is impersonal and occurs without regard
to the social position of the participant
Economizing Behavior
• Choosing a course of action that pursues
the course of perceived maximal benefit
• Equated “benefit” as a rational attempt to
maximize profit, however this notion is
very limited
• Choices are based on some sort of
calculation of benefit, whether it’s financial,
social, leisure time, future benefit, family
connections or tradition
Which would you buy?
• Need a pair of jeans? Would you buy the
first slide (designer jeans at $158.00) or
second pair (Sears jeans at $58.00)
• Buy designer jeans due to peer pressure
and to gain status
• You really just need a pair of jeans
• Every time you make a purchase, you
contribute to the profit of somone else
Culture and Choices
• Culture, values and institutions provide the
framework within which these choices are
made
• Capitalism dominates Western culture,
thus, there is an extremely high value on
wealth and material prosperity
• Other societies, such as the Hadza of
Tanzania are in business for their health
and there is emphasis on leisure time
Prestige as a Benefit of Economic
Choice
• Prestige—social honor or respect is another
value toward which people may direct their
energies
• In Western societies, prestige is linked with
increased consumption of goods and services
• In other societies, prestige is associated with
generosity and the giving of goods to another. In
tribal societies, a poor man shames the rest of
society.