Culture in its material context ch. 5
Economic anthropologists study
 systems of production
 distribution (exchange)
 consumption
( in non industrial and industrial societies.)

economic system
is the production and allocation of material goods and services.
subsistence patterns and systems of distribution
 subsistence patterns:
the means by which environmental resources are converted for human use
 distribution systems:
are the means by which goods and services are made available to members of a particular
group
subsistence patterns/adaptive strategies
 foraging (hunting and gathering societies)
 pastoralism, (herding),
 horticulture (subsistence gardening) and
 intensive agriculture
 industrialization.
Foraging
 band-organization
 mobile
 gender-based division of labour
 relatively egalitarian
Pastoralism
 pastoral nomadism
 transhumance or agro-pastoralism
 usually unilineal
 (they trace descent through either the male or the female but not both)
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 Cultivation
horticulture and agriculture
Horticulture
(Slash-and-burn cultivation/shifting cultivation)
 non-intensive plant cultivation
 simple tools and cyclical
 non-continuous use of crop lands.
 does not involve the intensive use of labour, land, capital and machinery.
Intensive Agriculture
 sedentary (settled living in one place)
 continuous use of crop land
 labor-intensive
 domesticated animals
 Irrigation
 Terracing
 Extended families
 private ownership of land




Mode of production is defined as a way of organizing production
Similarity of adaptive strategies - similarity of mode of production
(variations occur according to environmental
particularities).
Production in non-industrial populations
All societies divide labor according to gender and age (variations)
Valuation of work varies
Systems of distribution (exchange):
Reciprocity, redistribution, market exchange

Reciprocity
a. Generalized reciprocity
b. Balanced reciprocity
c. Negative reciprocity

Redistribution

Market system
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Reciprocity:
Exchange between social equals/mutual give-and-take among people of equal status
Types of reciprocity are determined on the basis of
1. How closely related are the persons/parties to the exchange?
2. How quickly and unselfishly are gifts reciprocated?
a. Generalized reciprocity:
Pattern of exchange without expectation of an immediate return
No overt account/record is kept (trust)
Each person gives according to their status and role (social tie)
Each individual has access to resources irrespective of their own contribution
Usually takes place between the close kin and foraging groups
(parents-children: parents expect love, gratitude, respect and children's happiness)
child
 parent

parent child 
child

parent 

(hunter-group: hunter expects higher status, respect, control)
(senior academics-junior academics: senior expects respect, academic progress)
b. Balanced reciprocity:
Exchange of goods or services of equal value
Clear obligation to return (social tie)
Return within a specified time (trust)
Formal or informal record/account is kept
Between more distantly related people
(e.g. Kula ring/Trobriands of Papua New Guinea)
soulava red shell necklaces-clockwise/mvali-white shell bracelets-counterclockwise
(e.g. birthday, wedding gifts)
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c. Negative reciprocity
(do unto others as they have done unto you)
exchange for the purpose of material advantange
based on desire to get something for nothing
mainly impersonal, exchange with outsiders or marginals (no social tie, no trust)
(e.g. gambling, theft, cheating)
(e.gEast Africa Kuria horse raid between the tribes)
Redistribution
Goods, services or their equivalent which are collected or accumulated by members of a
group then are given away in a new pattern (usually in a ceremonial feast).
Center

Local level
Centre

Local level
(e.g. Cherokee/Tennessee Valley)
(Kawelka/New Guinea- Pig Feast)
(potlatch: Salish, Kwakiutl /BC, WA, Tsimshian/Alaska)
Market Systems
Economic system which is mainly based on sale and purchase of goods and services at a
money price (determined on the basis of supply and demand).
(less is more expensive, more is less expensive)
It governs the distribution of the means of production – land, labour, natural resources,
technology, and capital.
Social roles are differentiated through task specialization
Barter: Exchange of goods or services of equal value
Cash: a medium of exchange that has an assigned value independent of its intrinsic value
(nickels, paper not necessarily golden coins)
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