Economies And Cultures

This synthesis of modern economic anthropology goes to the heart of a thriving subdiscipline and identifies the fundamental practical and theoretical problems that give economic anthropology its unique strengths and vision. More than any other anthropological subdiscipline, economic anthropology constantly questions and debates the practical motives of people as they go about their daily lives. Tracing the history of the dialogue between anthropology and economics, the authors move economic anthropology beyond the narrow concerns of earlier debates and place the field directly at the centre of current issues in the social sciences. They focus on the unique strengths of economic anthropology as a meeting place for symbolic and materialist approaches and for understanding human beings as both practical and cultural. In so doing, the authors argue for the wider relevance of economic anthropology to applied anthropology and identify other avenues for interaction with economics, sociology, and other social and behavioural sciences. The second edition of Economies and Cultures contains an entirely new chapter on gifts and exchange that critically approaches the new literature in this area, as well as a thoroughly updated bibliography and guide for students for finding case studies in economic anthropology.

Drawing on Australian and comparative case studies, this volume reconceptualises non-metropolitan creative economies through the ‘qualities of place’. This book examines the agricultural and gastronomic cultures surrounding ‘native’ foods, coastal sculpture festivals, universities and regional communities, wine in regional Australia and Canada, the creative systems of the Hunter Valley, musicians in ‘outback’ settings, Fab Labs as alternatives to clusters, cinema and the cultivation of ‘authentic’ landscapes, and tensions between the ‘representational’ and ‘non-representational’ in the cultural economies of the Blue Mountains. What emerges is a picture of rural and regional places as more than the ‘other’ of metropolitan creative cities. Place itself is shown to embody affordances, unique institutional structures and the invisible threads that ‘hold communities together’. If, in the wake of the publication of Florida’s Rise of the Creative Class, creative industries models tended to emphasize ‘big cities’ and the spatial-cum-cultural imaginaries of the ‘Global North’, recent research and policy discourses – especially, in the Australian context – have paid greater attention to ‘small cities’, rural and remote creativity. This collection will be of interest to scholars, students and practitioners in creative industries, urban and regional studies, sociology, geography and cultural planning.

This study overturns the assumption that it is commerce that works by logical economic models while culture is invoked to explain the behaviour of the international consumer.

All human beings develop a certain view on the world. Inhabitants of the same country are likely to develop similar worldviews. The common part of these views constitutes the country’s national culture. Consequently, academic economists, policymakers, and the population at large are consistently exposed to the same opinions on the preferred way of organizing an economy. This book explores the economic impacts of these shared cultural values, focusing on the economies of the United States of America, Germany, and France. These three countries broadly represent three different types of economic organization and their corresponding economic ideologies: a free market economy, a coordinated market economy, and a hierarchical market economy. The contributors to this edited volume have examined the extent to which the shared worldviews between academic economists, policymakers, and the wider population impact these economies. In particular, the chapters investigate the consequences for the design of the labor market, the financial system, competition policy, and monetary policy. The work also explores the extent to which the shared views on national culture and economic systems and policies in these countries contribute to the population’s well-being overall. This book makes an invaluable contribution to the literature on comparative economics, economic policy, well-being and cultural economics.

This is a handbook for the cultural entrepreneur, offering some of the best examples on practice, franchises, research, innovation and business opportunities in the cultural sector. The key theme is the contribution and possibilities of the cultural economy as a business, with a strong supporting subtext on innovative practice. The book illustrates the theme by providing multiple practice-based and empirical examples from an international panel of experts. Each contribution provides an accessible and easily accessed bank of knowledge on which existing practice can be grown and new projects undertaken. It provides an eclectic mix of possibilities that reinforce and underscore the full innovative and complex potential of the cultural economy. Topics include a review of the global and regional economic benefits of the cultural economy, evidence-based analysis of the culture industries, and an outline of the top ten cultural opportunities for business. This collection transcends the space between theory and practice to combine culture and innovation and understand their importance to a wider economy. This is essential reading for researchers and practitioners interested in entrepreneurship, non-profit management, art and visual culture, and public finance.

Why Enlightenment culture sparked the Industrial Revolution During the late eighteenth century, innovations in Europe triggered the Industrial Revolution and the sustained economic progress that spread across the globe. While much has been made of the details of the Industrial Revolution, what remains a mystery is why it took place at all. Why did this revolution begin in the West and not elsewhere, and why did it continue, leading to today's unprecedented prosperity? In this groundbreaking book, celebrated economic historian Joel Mokyr argues that a culture of growth specific to early modern Europe and the European Enlightenment laid the foundations for the scientific advances and pioneering inventions that would instigate explosive technological and economic development. Bringing together economics, the history of science and technology, and models of cultural evolution, Mokyr demonstrates that culture--the beliefs, values, and preferences in society that are capable of changing behavior--was a deciding factor in societal transformations. Mokyr looks at the period 1500-1700 to show that a politically fragmented Europe fostered a competitive "market for ideas" and a willingness to investigate the secrets of nature. At the same time, a transnational community of brilliant thinkers known as the "Republic of Letters" freely circulated and distributed ideas and writings. This political fragmentation and the supportive intellectual environment explain how the Industrial Revolution happened in Europe but not China, despite similar levels of technology and intellectual activity. In Europe, heterodox and creative thinkers could find sanctuary in other countries and spread their thinking across borders. In contrast, China's version of the Enlightenment remained controlled by the ruling elite. Combining ideas from economics and cultural evolution, A Culture of Growth provides startling reasons for why the foundations of our modern economy were laid in the mere two centuries between Columbus and Newton.

This fascinating volume offers a critique of recent institutional and cultural turns in heterodox economics and political economy. Using seven case studies as examples, the authors explore how research on sense- and meaning-making can deepen critical s