Week 10: Anthropology 11--Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Lecture Notes for Chapter 7:

Economic Systems  (180-209)

basketweave line

 

Professor John Wolford
Department of Anthropology
University of Missouri-St. Louis

Email: wolfordj@msx.umsl.edu


 
Definitions for Chapter 7 Outline for Chapter 7 Anthro 11 homepage GO TO BOTTOM OF THE PAGE

Links to outside web pages:

[Wolford's A11 Web Page] [My Gateway Page] [Reserves Page]


Links to Section Headings inside this page:

Economic Anthropology  |  Resources  |  Distribution and Exchange  |  Economics Culture and the World of Business


The important questions Haviland cites for you to consider while reading this chapter:
 

How do anthropologists study economic systems?

How do the economies of nonindustrial peoples work?

How and why are goods exchanged in nonindustrial societies?

 

Notes for William A. Haviland, 

Cultural Anthropology, 10th edition: 

Chapter 7:  Economic Systems  (180-209)

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[INTRODUCTION]

• Economic system: means by which goods are produced, distributed, and consumed

• the subject of economic anthropology implies our previous subject of patterns of subsistence

 
• since subsistence involves not only the patterns of subsistence systems but also their production, distribution, and consumption

• likewise, it implies the political system, which is the subject of a later chapter, a later week
 

Economic Anthropology   (182-184)
• Westerners especially have a tendency to perceive others—and their relative cultural worth—in terms of the way they conduct themselves, or structure themselves, economically

• people who do not work hard at all times tend to be seen as lazy (i.e., as not tying to exploit value out of every minute)

 
• they tend not to be assessed in terms of their own economic structure and values
 

• for example, working when there is a need to be met, not working when there is no such need

 Return to Top • TROBRIAND ISLAND Example  
• Trobrianders base wealth and prestige on yam production

• Men raise and give as gifts yams to others—especially to families of female relatives

 
• their gifts raise their own prestige because of the debt accrued

• also, raises the family's prestige


• yams themselves are raised as the basis for trade

 
• prestige items such as pigs and stone (or steel) axes are exchanged for yams


• ultimately feasts are given at ritual times (death, marriage, etc.)

 
• which is one reason there is a continual need for a constant supply of yams


• Western values would see such efforts as inefficient
 

• because we value an infinite supply of excess from which we adjudge prestige


• Trobriand values center on the prestige of the female line, where the measure of social worth is gauged through consumption of the staple plus other foods (pig, etc.)

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Resources (184-191)
• Every society has rules concerning resources: 1) the raw materials, 2) the labor, and 3) the technology

• Every society has rules that govern who has access or control over each of these areas

• The rules reflect the values, attitudes, norms, beliefs of the society

PATTERNS OF LABOR   (184-189)
 
• all human societies have always divided the universe of labor by age and (esp) gender

• this allows for the range of known skills to be mastered to be halved

• the human division of labor is an elaboration of such patterns observable in other higher primates

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Division of Labor By Gender (185-186)
• men's work  
• physical strength

• rapid mobilization

• frequent and wide-ranging travel

• high risk and danger

• assumption of expendability


• universal division of labor does not apply

• in some societies women take on what Westerners assume to be only men's work: military personnel, e.g.

• how societies have divided the work have tended to be of three types
 

• 1) flexibility and integration of gender

• 2) segregated by gender

• 3) or a combination of the two


Sexually integrated groups
 

• about 35% of activities are performed by either gender

• cooperation is valued over competition

• boys and girls are enculturated much the same

• tend to be egalitarian societies: food-foraging societies


Sexually segregated societies
 

• tends to be pastoral nomadic, intensive agricultural, or industrial societies

• men are away for long periods and do not actively help with the rearing of children

• competition is encouraged


Dual Sex
 

• each sex carries out its own roles

• each role seen as necessary to survival of all

• together, seen as complementary roles

• system of competition with cooperation

• neither sex asserts dominance

• seen in certain North American Indian societies and some West African kingdoms, such as the Dahomeans

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Age Division of Labor (186-187)
• elderly: often seen as the repositories of wisdom

• also seen as being closer in touch with the spiritual

• possibly because they can take the greater risk of contacting the other world, since they are not responsible for the economic or reproductive life of the people

• children often apprentice young in household or public matters
 

Cooperation (187-188)
• a necessary trait in all societies  
• the very idea of society implies people working together


• both dependence training and independence training trains people to work together, although in markedly different ways

• the basic unit of cooperation is the household (in most societies)

 
• it is a unit of both production and consumption


• the household is also the basis for all peoples’ early acculturation, the most basic acculturation for anyone

• cooperative work is not always voluntary (on a personal level)

 
• sometimes it is mandatory according to tradition or custom  
• such as duties to one’s in-laws; or commands from political or religious figures


• thus, institutions often define the individual’s cooperative obligations

 
• such as: political, religious, family Return to Top
 

Craft Specialization (188-189)
• typically occurs in more complicated systems than food foraging subsistence  
• specialization increases according to the amount of industrialization a country or a people have developed  
• because people in industrialized societies cannot master all of the skills appropriate to their age and sex category


• technological and productivity needs are greater in industrial societies


• nonetheless, specialization to some degree happens in all societies, even in food foraging societies

 
• e.g.: people going to a particular arrowmaker because of his expertise


• surplus produces specialization

• specialization can originate because of a particular peoples access to a particular desired natural or artificial resource

 
• e.g.: Afar tribesmen of Ethiopia who mine the Danakil Depressionís salt mines, since ancient times
  • the basis for their trade network

• required rigorous work and planning
 

 • e.g.: Trobriand Islanders going to a particular island for clay pots, another island for stone for axes Return to Top

CONTROL OF LAND AND WATER (189-190)

  • obviously of importance

• discusses folk ideas of land, ownership, and territoriality

• the kind of control considered—unconsciously, culturally—necessarily depends to a large degree on what kind of subsistence type the society is

 
• pastoralists would need to control watering and grazing rights, e.g.

• horticulturists: how to assign, work, and pass on land rights

• capitalist industrial societies: laws governing private property, ownership of resources

• etc.


• the extant political system exerts the largest control over how the land is controlled

 
• nonindustrial societies: the lineage often exerts control over who has authority over property and land

• among food foragers, the use and transmission of land rights/access is typically determined by the adaptive usability of the landscape

 
• waterholes

• ancestral spirits

• a particular food resource

• etc.

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TECHNOLOGY (190)
 
page 190 technology tools and other material equipment, together with the knowledge of how to make and use them

• the type of technology a people has and uses is directly related to the pragmatics of their lifestyles

 
• food foragers, and pastoralists would have fewer and simpler tools than sedentary folks, like agriculturalists, horticulturists, or urbanites


• primary tools of various people:

 
• hunters/gatherers: bow and arrow, net

• horticulturists: digging stick, axes, machete, hoe


• loaning of tools is common among food foragers or horticulturists

 
• but whatever resources are acquired through that loan is considered to belong in part to the owner of the tools

• game killed by an arrow would belong in part to the owner of the arrow


• loaning is less likely in more complex societies, because the tools are harder to replace

 
• ownership is more absolute Return to Top

LEVELING MECHANISMS (190-191)
 
page 191 leveling mechanism a societal obligation compelling a family to distribute goods, so that no one accumulates more wealth than anyone else

• leveling mechanisms tend to exist primarily in societies that are egalitarian (more or less)

• serves to obviate an imbalance of resources within any one family, person, or group
 
 
cargo system a civil-religious hierarchy which, on a revolving basis, combines most of the civic and ceremonial offices of a community; OR a system based on the leveling mechanism principle

  • Example of cargo system: Mayan villages of highland Mexico and Guatemala  
• a prestige system where all males are expected to acquire the wealth to support a high political position

• all high political positions hold within them the responsibilities of providing ceremonial services for the community

 
• the higher the position, the heavier the responsibility


• after a person has served and can support it no longer, another one takes his place, while he goes off to acquire more wealth to aspire to the next highest level

• serves to allow people the potential to acquire significant personal or family prestige

• some people have an appreciable excess of such prestige

• but no one has an excess of material goods
 

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Distribution and Exchange (192-205)

  • Three modes of cultural systems of material distribution, according to KARL POLANYI:  
• reciprocity

• redistribution

• the market exchange

RECIPROCITY (192-195)

   
page 192 reciprocity the exchange of goods and services, of approximately equal value, between two parties

• all societies have such systems of exchange

• all people expect something back for something given

 
• even if the giving is on-the-surface altruistic


• Ex: throwing a party in US

 
• people throwing the party expect to be invited back to other parties

• they also expect to gain some status for having such an excellent party

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page 193 generalized reciprocity a mode of exchange in which the value of the gift is not calculated, nor is the time of repayment specified

• Example of generalized reciprocity is the hunter giving his kill to the group

 
• he knows he will be given meat in the future by other hunters, but the time and the apportionment is indeterminate


• gift-giving is the same sort of thing ªªªor throwing that party

• most commonly occurs among close kin or people in other ways extremely close
 
page 193 balanced reciprocity a mode of exchange whereby the giving and the receiving are specific as to the value of the goods and the time of their delivery

• most typically occurs among somewhat less close kin

• Example given:

 
• Crow Indian woman might bring her brother some food, and he would reciprocate by giving her 10 arrows for her husband (equivalent to a horse)
 
page 194 negative reciprocity a form of exchange whereby the giver tries to get the better of the exchange

• most typically occurs among people who are not related or who live in different communities

• most extreme form: taking something by force

• other types: acquire through guile or deception; --hard bargaining

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Barter and Trade (194-195)
• barter typically takes place between differential groups  
• whereas reciprocity takes place within a community, typically


• barter developed to minimize the hostility created between different groups whenever trading would occur
 
page 194 silent trade a form of barter with no verbal communication
 
• Example given is Carleton Coon's of the exchange between a food-foraging people and an agricultural people, who leave goods to be traded on the boundary of their areas, never talking to one another or (implicitly) seeing one another

THE KULA RING (195-197)

  • not all trade is economically or materially motivated  
• we in the material west would think so, since this is our orientation


• The Trobriand Island Kula system is a famous, non-economic, ceremonial trading practice

 
• Bronislaw Malinowski first described it: in 1920

• it is still going on strong today--remember: patterns of affect


• Pattern of distribution:

 
• red shell necklaces go clockwise, white armshells go counterclockwise


• The variables of value:

 
• size

• color

• level of polish

• each shell’s particular history


• Each shell is held for only a short time--no more than ten years

 
• to hold longer would disrupt its "path" and bring the owner bad luck, invoke negative magic Return to Top

REDISTRIBUTION (197-198)

   
page 197 redistribution a form of exchange in which goods flow into a central place where they are sorted, counted, and reallocated

• occurs not between individuals or groups

• government (typically) has direct control of converting goods and services to converted services and goods

 
• requires centralized political system
  • not necessarily urbanized or state-based


• Taxes in the US: we give Uncle Sam out money, he gives us governmental goods (welfare, infrastructure, governance, cultural support, education, military, etc.)

• Incan empire: one of the most efficient redistributive governments ever in existence

• Requires:

 
• centralized system of political organization

• an economic surplus well above a people’s needs

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DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH (198-202)

  • can occur in industrial or non-industrial societies

• the display will be culturally-specific

• Examples are:

 
• Christmas giving

• the Keeping-up-with-the-Joneses syndrome in America

• the Big Man feast of Papua New Guinea


• more than simply distribution of wealth, these are examples of conspicuous consumption
 
page 198 conspicuous consumption a term Thorstein Veblen coined to describe the display of wealth for social prestige

• the Papuan example emphasizes the giving away of artificially built-up surpluses

 
• thus brings into play the principle of the leveling mechanism


• the American examples emphasize hoarding artificially built-up surpluses

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ORIGINAL STUDY:  (on pp. 199-201)
PRESTIGE ECONOMICS IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA
LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY IN ANTHROPOLOGY

UNDERSTAND WHY THIS STUDY IS PLACED UNDER THIS SECTION

• Study Example: the Enga of Papua New Guinea

• Big Man

• leader by virtue of personality
• Functions
• validate the exchange of women in arranged marriages

• adjudicate

• gain prestige through providing a huge feast
 
 
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MARKET EXCHANGE (202-205)

   
page 202 market exchange the buying and selling of goods and services, with prices set by powers of supply and demand

Economists' understanding of the term: buying and selling of goods when value is determined by supply and demand

• usually associated with state-level of political organization

 
• can occur in either industrialized nations or in the non-industrial world


• differences between industrialized vs nonindustrialized modes of market exchange
 
Industrial not necessarily centered in a place deals in goods, but also in labor, services, and land deals in abstractions: money, debt, etc. not necessarily face to face
Nonindustrial distinctly centered in a marketplace deals in goods deals in money or barter face to face exchange
 
page 203 money anything used to make payments for goods or labor as well as to measure their value; may be special purpose or multi-purpose

• An important function of nonindustrialized society's market exchange system is socialization, pure and simple

 
• this is absent from Western market exchange systems, since the face to face interaction is absent
 
page 204 informal economy the production of marketable commodities that for various reasons escape enumeration, regulation, or any other sort of public monitoring or auditing

• the nonindustrial/informal/mode of exchange occurs in industrial societies as well

 
• flea markets

• yard sales

• art/craft sales/fairs

• county fair

• local festivals

• farmer's market

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Economics, Culture, and the World of Business (205-206)

  • the understanding that anthropologists bring to cross-cultural interactions is increasingly important in a global economy  
• recognition has grown of the cultural relativity of meanings in different societies  
• Ex: Nova (the car made by Chevrolet) marketing in Spanish-speaking countries (no va means no go)


• people communicate in different ways

• businesses have increasingly recognized how embedded cultural values are in economic views, transactions, relations

  
ANTHROPOLOGY APPLIED:  (on p. 207)
ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE WORLD OF BUSINESS
LEARN THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS STUDY IN ANTHROPOLOGY

UNDERSTAND WHY THIS STUDY IS PLACED UNDER THIS SECTION

• Special analytical skills to study corporate culture that the anthropologist has that other social scientists do not
• participant observation

• systemic cultural analysis

• Some large corporations have hired anthropologists to help the people within the corporation adjust when significant cultural change occurred within the corporation (restructuring, takeovers, lay-offs, etc.)

• the anthropologist's need to maintain ethical stringency is heightened in such cases

• because he/she is hired by the corporation but the duty is to the people within


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created: January 28, 2001
last revised: January 10, 2002
this revision: March 8, 2002