Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Angela Lockard Reed
Outline 9, October 22, 2003
Economic Systems
I Economic system
A Production
1 Technology
2 Locations of production
a Place of origin of the raw material
b Location where the material is turned into finished products
c Place of manufacture of an artificial material
3 How production is organized
a Division of labor by gender
b Division of labor by age
c Craft specialization
d Control of resources
B Distribution and Exchange
1 Direct Access
2 Reciprocity
a generalized reciprocity
b balanced reciprocity
c negative reciprocity
- barter
- silent trade
- the Kula ring of the Trobrianders of Papua New Guinea
3 Redistribution
a potlatch
b conspicuous consumption
c prestige economy
4 Market Exchange
a Informal economy
b Capitalismt
C Consumption
II Culture in Economics
A Neoclassical economic theory
1 “maximizing utility” and a belief in the scarcity of resources as key
2 everybody has something to sell and everything can be bought and sold
3 narrow way of looking at economic activities
B Formalist vs. Substantivist Debate
1 Formalist – Western capitalist models can be applied universally
2 Substantivist – economy must be understood in cultural context
III Political Economy: a holistic term that emphasizes the centralitiy of material interest (economy) and the use of power (politics) to protect and enhance that interest
A Modernization theory: argues that the social change occurring in non-Western societies under colonial rule was a necessary and inevitable prelude to higher levels of social development that had been reached by the more “modern” nations
1 neocolonialism: the persistence of profound social and economic entanglements linking former colonial territories to their former colonial rulers despite political sovereignty
B Dependency theory: argues that the success of “independent” capitalist nations has required the failure of “dependent” colonies or nations whose economies have been distorted to serve the needs of dominant capitalist outsiders
1 development-of-underdevelopment thesis: argues that capitalism deliberately creates “underdevelopment” in formerly prosperous areas that come under its domination
C World-system theory: argues that, from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, European capitalism began to incorporate other regions and peoples into a world system whose parts were linked together economically but not politically
1 core: the nations specializing in banking, finance, and highly skilled industrial production
2 periphery: those exploited former colonies of the core that supply the core with cheap food and raw materials
D Methods that may affect economic and/or social change
1 sacred persuasion: the attempt by Western religious missionaries to pressure non-Western societies to change
2 secular persuasion: the attempt by Western secular authorities to pressure non-Western societies to change
IV Global Assembly Line
A Why is it that young women provide a source of cheap labor in most off-shore assembly plants?
B What are some of the neocolonial relationships between core and periphery areas described in the film? What are the colonial relationships upon which the world system of garment production and electronic assembly are based?
C How does the film depict the development-of-underdevelopment hypothesis?
D Do you think that the corporate executives interviewed in the film expressed a belief in modernization theory, dependency theory, or World-System theory?
E What examples of secular persuasion were evident in the film? Did you not any forms of resistance to secular persuasion?
F What forms of power and resistance were depicted in the film?