UNIT 6: economic systems

sila (silap inua):

denotes the indigenous/non-european recognizance of the interconnectedness of the earth and all its inhabitants; refers directly to the inuit idea that means both breath and climate

• human culture is part of the natural world and is contextualized and interdependent with ecological processes

anthropocene:

a geological epoch in which the earth is so significantly altered by the actions of humans, including climate change, that evidence of human action is detectable in all aspects of the environment

economy:

the culturally specific processes used by members of a society to provide themselves with material resources

• each culture has its own

economic anthropology:

part of the discipline/anthropology that debates issues of human nature that relate directly to the decisions of daily life and making a living

economic anthropology - wilk & cliggett composed 3 models of human nature:

they are the self-interested model, the social model and the moral model

self-interested model: (4)

• originated during the enlightenment

• based on the assumption that individuals are primarily interested in their own wellbeing and that selfishness is natural

• view assumes that economic analysis should focus on individuals who must maximize their utility and satisfaction under conditions of scarcity

• anthropologists under this model should investigate how different priorities set by diverse societies affect the maximizing decisions of individuals

social model: (3)

• the way people form groups and exercise power

• this view assumes that people ordinarily identify with the groups to which they belong, and cannot even conceive having a self with interests that diverge from those of the group

• suggests that economics ought to focus on institutions rather than on individuals

institutional POV:

societies economy consists of the culturally specific processes its members use to provide themselves with material resources - economic processes cannot be separate from the cultural institutions they are embedded in

moral model:

motivations are shaped by culturally specific belief systems and values guided by a culturally patterned view of the universe and the human place within it

moral POV:

modern society has lost the morality and ethics that guided behaviour in traditional cultures, replacing them with amoral selfishness

institutions:

stable and enduring cultural practices that organize social life

what are the 3 phases of economic activity:

1. production

2. distribution

3. consumption

production: (2)

the transformation of nature’s raw materials into a form suitable for human use

• argued to be most important phase (by those who support marx)

subsistence strategies: (2)

the different strategies used by members of a society to meet their basic material needs

• historically archeological evidence shows most societies incorporated various strategies, often seasonally, w/both men and women hunting, gathering, farming, gardening or foraging

food collection: (4)

• people who gather wild plant materials, fish and or hunt for food

• food collectors depend on the availability of resources in their environment

• small scale collectors move often

• complex collectors live in environments where many foods are available year round

food production:

people who depend on domesticated plants and or animals for food (may farm/herd or both)

3 major distinctions among those who farm:

• extensive agriculture

• intensive agriculture

• mechanized industrial agriculture

extensive agriculture:

form of cultivation that depends on slash and burn (swidden) techniques, rainwater, human muscle power and a few simple tools like digging sticks, hoes and or machetes (will eventually exhaust soil, new plots/move 20-30 years)

intensive agriculture:

form of cultivation that employs plows, draft animals, irrigation and fertilizer to bring a large amount of land under cultivation at one time

mechanized industrial agriculture:

large-scale farming that is highly dependent on industrial methods of technology and production - most often in factory farming of animals

mode of production:

a specific, historically occurring set of social relations through which labour is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, organizations and knowledge (eric wolf)

wolf’s 3 modes of production important in human history include:

• kin ordered mode

• tributary mode

• capitalist mode

kin-ordered mode: (2)

in which social labour is performed on the basis of kinship relations (ex: husbands, fathers, brothers, sons clear the fields, whole family plants, mothers, daughters, sisters, wives weed, small children keep animals out of the field

• found among food collectors and those farmers and herders whose political organization does not involve domination by one group

tributary mode: (2)

in which labourers control the means of production but must provide payment (money, a % of crop, or labour) to some figure of authority (ex: lord/ruler, as in feudal peasant system of europe)

• found among farmers and herders living in a social system that is divided into rulers and subjects (producing for both themselves and rulers)

capitalist mode: (2)

in which means of production are largely owned and surplus is invested in the production of commodities for profit, labourers work for a wage and do not control the means of production

• around the world but initially emerged in europe and north america - associated with mechanized industrial agriculture and commodity production - emerged with the industrial revolution

labour:

activity linking human social groups to the material world around them - is organized collectively and socially producing patterns of social organization, production and thought

means of production:

the tools, skills, organizations and knowledge used to extract energy from nature

relations of production:

the social relations linking the people who use a given means of production within a particular mode of production

according to marx, what are the 5 key shifts in mode/means/relations of production in capitalism that have had enormous impact on social and political organization?

• private property

• wage labour

• profit

• classes

• commodities

private property:

the means of production, in particular property (land, infrastructure, technology, resources), are owned privately by individuals - different from kin/tributary production modes in which the means of production are controlled collectively

• ex: crown land

wage labour:

under capitalism, workers do not exchange or sell the products of their labour (food, clothes, etc.); rather they exchange their labour itself for cash

profit:

this labour produces surpluses of wealth that capitalists may retain or reinvest into production to increase output and generate additional profit

classes:

all modes of production have relations of production in which different groups may have different access to and control over the means of production - in capitalism, marx said there were two distinct and unequal groups/classes: those that own or control the means of production (capitalists, or the bourgeoisie) and those who do not control the means of production but must work for wages (labourers or the proletariat)

commodities:

under capitalism, the objective of production is to make commodities for profit, rather than food or other goods for subsistence or surplus to be paid in tax or tribute / the exchange of commodities occurs in a market economy based on prices, supply and demand and profitability

distribution:

the allocation of goods and services

modes of exchange:

patterns according to which distribution takes place - reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange (different modes exist in distribution - self interested, social, moral)

neoclassical economic theory: (3)

a formal attempt to explain the workings of capitalist entreprise, with particular attention to distribution

• self interested model

• western neoclassical economics based on assumption that market forces are the central forces determining levels of both production and consumption in society

non-capitalist societies devise modes of exchange that…

distribute material goods in ways that are in accordance with their values, institutions, assumptions about the human condition (worldview) (characterized as gifting, sharing or bartering)

gifts: (4)

• social or moral model

• social - tied to relationships

• kin - important in kin or tributary models of production

• dependent - value of gift is dependent on social relationships and its importance in their society

commodities: (4)

• self interested model

• asocial - not tied to relstionships

• class - important in capitalist modes of production

• independent - value is independent of social relationships and is determined by supply and demand

material objects can and do transform from…

gift to commodity and commodity to gift in different spheres of exchange, and cultures usually engage in both forms of exchange

marshall sahlins developed 3 modes of exchange:

• reciprocity

• redistribution

• market exchange

reciprocity: (4)

mode of exchange in which individuals exchange goods and or services under the assumption that the exchanges will eventually balance out, or with the expectation of immediate balance, or in the hope that at least one party will get something for nothing

• understood as exchange of gifts

• characteristic of egalitarian societies

• 3 kinds - generalized, balanced, negative

generalized reciprocity:

is found when those who exchange do so without expecting an immediate return and without specifying the value of return

• ex: food sharing in food collecting societies

balanced reciprocity:

found when those who exchange expect a return of equal value within a specified time limit

• ex: christmas gifts, eid gifts, kula ring

negative reciprocity:

is an exchange of goods and services in which at least one party attempts to get something for nothing without suffering any penalties - can range from haggling over prices to outright seizure

redistribution: (3)

a mode of exchange in which a centralized social organization receives contributions from all members of the group and redistributes them in a way that provides for every member

• understood as exchange of gifts

• ex: potlatch

market exchange:

mode of exchange in which the exchanges of goods (trade) is calculated in terms of a multi-purpose medium of exchange and standard of value (money) and carried on by means of a supply-demand-price mechanism (the market)

consumption: (2)

using up material goods necessary for human survival

• goods include; food, drinks, clothing, shelter, etc

anthropologists historically took either _____ or _____ approaches to understand cross cultural similarities and differences in consumption;

materialist (biological or environmental) OR idealist (cultural)

• now it is viewed more holistically

functionalism:

• malinowski’s approach to consumption

emphasized human beings’ dependence on the physical world; showing that many customs that appear bizarre to western observers are rational/functional because they help people satisfy their basic human needs

what is the main shortcoming of materialist explanations for human consumption patterns?

they ignore the possibility of human agency

cultural ecology:

the study of the ways in which human beings relate to one another and to their natural environment

multilinear evolution:

suggested that various cultures used diverse forms of adaptation to specific environments and so developed differently over time (steward)

steward’s approach: (to multilinear evolution)

1. outlining the subsistence technologies and methods of environmental exploitation used lcoally

2. seeking patterned strategies tied to such exploitations

3. investigation how these strategies (with associated technologies) affect other areas of culture

economic anthropology: IC

the part of the discipline that debates issue of human nature that relate directly to the decisions of daily life and making a living

economy: IC

culturally specific processes used by members of a society to provide themselves with material resources

economic anthropology is said to have been at odds with…

classical economic approaches like neoclassical economic theory

neoclassical economic theory: IC

assumes individuals are inherently rational and self interested, individuals are oriented towards maximizing utility and minimizing costs and primarily concerned with their own wellbeing; indifferent to the welfare of others

economic man:

out to satisfy as many of his or her personal goals and desires at as low a cost as possible

anthropological studies of subsistence strategies cover…

basic tools, techniques, organizational arrangements that people use to obtain food/other material resources from their natural surroundings

food collectors: IC (4)

• foragers, hunters, gatherers

• people who gather wild plant materials, fish and or hunt for food

• oldest human subsistence system

• most regions today this has been replaced by more intensive food procurement systems

example of small-scale food collectors:

ju/‘hoansi of souther africa - live in environments with patchy resources and tend to relocate often in search of food

example of complex food collectors:

native peoples of NW coast of north america, lived in environments where resources were plentiful, building and living in permanent settlements

food producers: IC

may also practice food collection but are distinct because they depend on the domestication of animals and or plants in order to meet human needs

herders/pastoralists:

depend on domesticated animals for food and other economic resources; most are nomadic and rely upon the organized movement of herds to naturally occurring pasture - often live alongside societies, noting that cattle based systems are most widespread

key contribution of anthropology on distribution:

demonstrate how the methods that a society uses in order to distribute goods/services both reflects the organization of social relations within that society and are constitutive of or help to create those social relations

theory of gift proposed by who?

marcel mauss

theory of gift:

counters western notions that gifts are free; in marcel mauss view, there is no such thing as a free gift, arguing gifts produce ties of obligation and debt - thus the practice of gift giving is both self interested and oriented towards others

importance of kula: (4)

• kula objects establish friendly relations among the inhabitants of different island and maintain a pattern of peaceful contact and communication

• they also reinforce status distinctions and prestige (only high status men can participate and get a canoe)

• kule ring demonstrates how reciprocity and gift giving create social relationships among the trobriand islanders

• balanced reciprocity but may fall within balanced and generalized reciprocity if delayed on return

gimwali:

ordinary barter or trade for trobriand islanders, form of either perfectly balanced or even negative reciprocity - involves immediate exchange of goods whose relative value was haggled over aggressively; considered less socially reputable than kula objects

women’s wealth (trobriand islanders): (3)

• balanced form of reciprocity wherein yams were traded over an appropriate amount of time for banana leaves or women’s wealth

• when a member of a woman’s family died, the woman’s husband was expected to provide her family with banana leaves

• yams provided to a woman’s husband by her brother were in this way of balanced out with a return from the husband of banana leaves

exploitation: IC (3)

• by marx, the forced appropriation of the unpaid labour of workers

• all working class people are exploited

• argued ultimate source of profit, driving force behind capitalist production is the unpaid labour of workers

labour-power: IC (4)

the aggregate of those mental and physical capabilities existing in the physical form, the living personality, of a human being, capabilities which he or she sets in motion whenever they produce a use-value of any kind

• the capacity to work, create value, which workers sell to capitalists in increments for a wage

• special commodity whose use-value is a source of value

• cost of production of labour power is cost required to maintain labourer’s education/training, cost of living, cost of raising children (future labourers)

labour: IC

the actual process of work itself

means of production: IC

tools, skills, organization and knowledge involved in production

relations of production: IC (2)

the social relations linking human beings with a particular mode of production

• refers to the distribution of productive tasks among different social groups and hoe their different forms of labour or productive activities then relate to one another

products of human labour under capitalism have both a…

use value and an exchange value

use-value: IC

the usefulness of a thing, its specific material and tangible qualities and the uses to which it can be put

exchange-value: IC

the quantitative measure according to which goods can be exchanged for others

labour itself is a…

commodity

value:

is the socially necessary labour time it took to produce something - labour time required to produce any use-value under the conditions of production normal for a given society and with the average degree of skills and intensity of labour in that society

surplus-value: IC

capitalism depends on a gap between the new value produced by the labour of workers and the compensation they are provided for that labour in wages

• reinvested by capitalists into productive process to make new surplus values or extracted in form of profit

external explanation/cultural ecology approach to consumption:

an approach that views economic behaviours solely as adaptations to the environment is also problematic because it fails to account for the selectivity that many social groups practice in terms of which foods or other goods from their environment they choose or prefer to consume

cultural ecology: IC

comes from anthropologist julian steward (studied under boaz) - seeks to account for economic and other cultural behaviours primarily as adaptations to the physical environments that people inhabit

cultural construction of need (3rd approach to consumption):

note how the ju/‘hoansi had an incredibly balanced diet and were able to satisfy their needs for food with the types of food that they preferred; over 100 edible plants in their environment but they only consumed 14 - selectively demonstrates how consumption patterns were shaped by cultural preferences not just need of the environment