The Anthropology Of Complex Economic Systems

Today we live in what Ulrich Beck has aptly characterized as a “risk society” shaped by intensifying crises outside of our control and seemingly outside of our comprehension. The master narrative that was supposed to lead us to secular salvation—economics—has proved to be a large part of the problem rather than the much anticipated solution. In The Anthropology of Complex Economic Systems, Niccolo Caldararo offers a much more radical and challenging answer: that the fundamental assumptions on which the modern “science” of economics has been erected are false, and that it is through the medium of anthropology, particularly the relatively neglected field of economic anthropology, that an alternative and sound basis for both the understanding of economic behavior and for the shaping of economic futures can be constructed. Caldararo not only challenges the foundational assumptions of conventional economic theory, but situates economic behavior (something quite different and universal amongst human beings) in both a historical and an ecological context. Contemporary discussions of “sustainability,” especially in the field of development studies, have oddly neglected to look to anthropology. Economic anthropology, is the repository of a vast store of wisdom both about actual alternative and workable economic systems and about their evolution. By drawing on this source, Caldararo builds a model of the evolution of human economies which stir up substantial debate, shows how economic anthropology provides a tool for the interrogation of economic theory, and ties economics to ecology. It has been the rupture of this fundamental relationship that lies at the basis of much of our present crisis and the unsustainable economic patterns that humans have created. By bringing together in a new configuration economic anthropology, ecology, and culture history, Caldararo not only proposes a new model of human social evolution, but equally importantly creates a methodology for speaking to, and against, our present economic and environmental situation.

The main focus of the volume - the processes of choice and decision-making in different economic systems - offers exceptional scope for the convergence of economic and anthropological perspectives. It concentrates on transactions that both express and influence social relationships and values. Covering a wide geographic area there are specific studies on societies in Equatorial Africa, Colombia, South India and the Balkans. First published in 1967.

This book is a new introduction to the history and practice of economic anthropology by two leading authors in the field. They show that anthropologists have contributed to understanding the three great questions of modern economic history: development, socialism and one-world capitalism. In doing so, they connect economic anthropology to its roots in Western philosophy, social theory and world history. Up to the Second World War anthropologists tried and failed to interest economists in their exotic findings. They then launched a vigorous debate over whether an approach taken from economics was appropriate to the study of non-industrial economies. Since the 1970s, they have developed a critique of capitalism based on studying it at home as well as abroad. The authors aim to rejuvenate economic anthropology as a humanistic project at a time when the global financial crisis has undermined confidence in free market economics. They argue for the continued relevance of predecessors such as Marcel Mauss and Karl Polanyi, while offering an incisive review of recent work in this field. Economic Anthropology is an excellent introduction for social science students at all levels, and it presents general readers with a challenging perspective on the world economy today. Selected by Choice as a 2013 Outstanding Academic Title

In Economics and Morality, the authors seek to illuminate the multiple kinds of analyses relating morality and economic behavior in particular kinds of economic systems.

What is Economic Anthropology The field of economic anthropology is one that endeavors to provide an explanation for human economic behavior throughout the broadest possible historical, geographical, and cultural period. The fields of economics and anthropology are brought together in this work. Anthropologists are the ones who engage in this practice, and it has a complicated relationship with the field of economics, which is a discipline that it is extremely important to. The work of Bronislaw Malinowski, the Polish father of anthropology, and Marcel Mauss, a Frenchman, on the nature of reciprocity as an alternative to market exchange was the impetus for the development of this subfield of anthropology. To a large extent, the field of economic anthropology is concerned with the study of trading. How you will benefit (I) Insights, and validations about the following topics: Chapter 1: Economic anthropology Chapter 2: Barter Chapter 3: Gift economy Chapter 4: Anthropological theories of value Chapter 5: Marcel Mauss Chapter 6: Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) Chapter 7: Kula ring Chapter 8: The Gift (essay) Chapter 9: Structural anthropology Chapter 10: The Great Transformation (book) Chapter 11: Market (economics) Chapter 12: Harold K. Schneider Chapter 13: Gifting remittances Chapter 14: Inalienable possessions Chapter 15: Spheres of exchange Chapter 16: Organ gifting Chapter 17: Debt: The First 5000 Years Chapter 18: Embeddedness Chapter 19: Formalist-substantivist debate Chapter 20: Archaeology of trade Chapter 21: Chris Gregory (II) Answering the public top questions about economic anthropology. (III) Real world examples for the usage of economic anthropology in many fields. (IV) Rich glossary featuring over 1200 terms to unlock a comprehensive understanding of economic anthropology. (eBook only). Who will benefit Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of economic anthropology.

Regional Analysis, Volume I: Economic Systems explores the interconnectedness of economic and social systems as they exist and develop in territorial-environmental systems. This volume concentrates on developing and refining models of trade and urban evolution, emphasizing evolutionary models and relationship between economic and political subsystems in the developmental process. Topics include the regional approach to economic systems; trade, markets, and urban centers in developing regions; spatio-economic organization in complex regional systems; and economic consequences of regional system organization. This publication is valuable to social and regional scientists, geographers, economists, social anthropologists, archeologists, sociologists, and political scientists interested in the implications of rural-urban relations and regional settlement patterns.

Developed from the inaugural conference of the Society for Economic Anthropology, this collection of papers reflects an interdisciplinary dialogue and a joint interest in a critical review of the various approaches used to examine the organization and transformation of economic systems.

Collection of essays on the scope and research methods of the social and cultural anthropology of economic development and modernization (economic anthropology) - presents the theoretical framework of socio-economic analysis of tribal peoples and peasant (rural worker) economic systems, covers traditional production and markets in Africa, primitive monetary systems, the role of kinship and religion, and considers social change and cultural change in village communitys. Bibliography pp. 363 to 375, references and statistical tables.