Chapter 18
Economic Systems
Chapter Outline
How Do anthropologists study economic
systems?
 How do the economies of nonindustrial
peoples work?
 How and why are goods exchanged?

Resources

Resources used to produce goods and
services include:
– Raw materials
– Labor
– Technology
Ceremonial Trading in the
Kula Ring
Patterns of Labor
Every society has a division of labor by
gender and age.
 This is an elaboration of patterns found
among monkeys and apes.
 Division by gender makes learning more
efficient.
 Division by age provides sufficient time
to developing skills.

Three Patterns of Work by
Gender
Flexible/integrated pattern
 Rigid segregation pattern
 Dual sex pattern

Flexible/Integrated
Pattern
35% of tasks are performed equally by
men and women.
 Tasks deemed appropriate for one
gender may be performed by the other.
 Boys and girls grow up in much the
same way and learn to value
cooperation over competition.

Rigid Segregation Pattern
Almost all work is defined as masculine
or feminine.
 Men and women rarely engage in joint
efforts.
 Common in pastoral nomadic, intensive
agricultural, and industrial societies.
 Both boys and girls are raised primarily
by women.

Dual Sex Configuration
Men and women carry out their work
separately.
 The relationship is one of balanced
complementarity rather than inequality.
 Each gender manages its own affairs,
and the interests of both men and
women are represented at all levels.

Modes of Distributing Goods
Reciprocity
2. Redistribution
3. Market exchange
1.
Reciprocity
Generalized - The value of what is given
is not calculated and repayment is not
specified.
 Balanced -A direct obligation to
reciprocate in equal value for the
relationship to continue.
 Negative - The giver tries to get the
better of the deal.

Redistribution



Form of exchange in which goods flow into a
central place where they are sorted, counted,
and reallocated.
In societies with a sufficient surplus to support
some sort of government, goods in the form of
gifts, tribute, taxes, and the spoils of war are
gathered into storehouses controlled by a chief
or some other type of leader.
From there, they are handed out again.
Motives in Redistributing
Income

1.
2.
3.
The leadership has three motives in
redistributing this income:
Gain or maintain a position of superiority
through a display of wealth and generosity.
Assure those who support the leadership an
adequate standard of living by providing them
with desired goods.
Establish alliances with leaders of other
groups by hosting them at lavish parties and
giving them valuable goods.
Market Exchange




Buying and selling of goods and services, with
prices set by rules of supply and demand.
Money may be defined as something used to
make payments for other goods and services.
Its critical attributes are durability, portability,
divisibility, recognizability, and fungibility.
The wide range of things that have been used
as money in one or another society includes
salt, shells, stones, beads, feathers, fur,
bones, and teeth.