Anthropology 100: Ch. 5
Consumption and Exchange
1. What is consumption?
2 meanings:
Examples?
(a)
(b)
2. Consumption modes
2 contrasting modes
+
mixed modes
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Foraging
Horticulture
Pastoralism
____________________
____________________

Based on relationship
between____________
and _______________

Minimalism = demands are
________________ +
______________________

Consumerism = demands
are__________________
+____________________
What is a leveling mechanism?
What are some problems related to
consumerism?
Consumerism leads to
1.
2.
3.
Consumerism is a major
hallmark
of___________________
and__________________
cultures. (p. 146)
What are some ways to control the
damage caused by consumerism?
What is personalized
consumption?
How is depersonalized
consumption different?
1
3. Consumption funds
“Spending” can occur via time,
labor or money.
5 fund categories across cultures:
a) Basic needs:
b) Recurrent costs;
c) Entertainment
How do budgets differ from one
mode of consumption to another?
d) Ceremonial
e) Rent/tax
4. Consumption inequalities

An entitlement is a…
3 consumption microcultures:
pp. 150 - 152

Direct entitlements are…

Indirect entitlements are…
(a) Class & game of distinction
(Israeli b’day parties)
Examples of both types of
entitlements:
Why are indirect entitlements less
secure?
(b) Women’s deadly diet
(Papua New Guinea)
How does an area’s economy
affect entitlements?
Entitlement theory exposes
contrasts between______________
and_________________________.
(C) “Race” and children’s shopping
(New Haven, Connecticut)
How do government policies and
actions affect entitlements?

An intrahousehold
entitlement refers to…
Famine
=_______________________.
It is caused in part by_______
and_____________________
but also by_______________
________________________
2
5. Forbidden Consumption
Food taboos:
--2 perspectives--

Why are there restrictions
against eating pork in
Judaism and Islam?
Cultural materialism says to
(a) Consider environmental factors
1. pig + its body temperature +
hot, dry desert regions of
Bible/Koran lands =
2. “pig-loving cultures” in Asia
and Pacific have better
climates for pigs:_________
______________________
(b) Symbolic anthropologists say


Food has meaning.
Food communicates
identity.
1. Old Testament (Leviticus):
Jews could eat only animals
with___________________
and that________________
Emic categories of food =
Mental map of the world and
people’s place in it (p. 153)
To symbolic anthropologists,
food choices are not about
nutrition; instead, they focus on
symbols and meaning.
2. This rule creates symbolism:
Complete + pure=
Incomplete + impure =
3. Following the rule shows
other people that
VOCABULARY TO KNOW:
3
Chapter 5, part 2: Culture and Exchange
1. Culture and Exchange
a) Items of exchange:
1.
Further details and examples:
Examples of each item:
Material goods:
Food
2.
3.
Wedding exchanges
(Sumatra)
Alcohol
b) Modes of exchange:
1. Balanced exchange
 Generalized reciprocity
Money
Symbolic goods (nonmaterial):

Pure gift
Myths, stories, rituals

Expected reciprocity
Labor:

Redistribution
People:
2. Unbalanced exchange
 Market exchange

Trade

Gambling

Theft

Exploitation
4
2. Changing patterns of Consumption
and Exchange
Market forces affect patterns of consumption and exchange.

The Amazon: sugar, salt, steel tools
Early 20th century-- Brazil
govt made contact with
remote Amazon peoples
by…
Health impacts:

Russia/Eastern Europe: Social
Inequality
Late 1980s: transition to
capitalism = rich own
mansions and Mercedes.
Advertising emphasizes
new foods.
2 categories of poor:
(1) ultra-poor
(2) poor
Health impacts:

USA: global networks + Ecstasy
Late 1990s: sharp ↑ in use
of drug Ecstasy. Here is
how the supply chain
works:

Europe/North America: alternative
food movements
These movements
oppose the agro-industry,
which:
One of the first of these
movements started in Italy and
was called the…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5