Economic Anthropology

Cross-cultural study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.

Production How people organize their work

Preindustrial society divide labor by:

Gender

Age

In Industrial societies, detail labor (labor split into subparts)

Distribution

Once produced, goods and services must be distributed

Three ways by which goods are distributed

Reciprocity: direct exchange of goods and services

Redistribution: Flow of goods and services to central authority, then returned in different form

Market Exchange: buying and selling through price mechanism

Ex: Yanomamo: trade is part of political alliance

Consumption Access to goods and services

Economic System The part of society that deals with production,

distribution, and consumption of goods and services

The way production is organized has consequences for the family and the political system

Economics is embedded in the social process and cultural patterns

Marcel MaussThe Gift (1925)

Laid the foundation for economic anthropology

Mauss noted that a gift is never free; it entails three obligations:

To give

To receive

To reciprocate

Obligations of Gift Exchange

Obligation to give:

To extend social ties to other person or groups

Obligation to receive:

To accept relationship

Refusal:

Rejection of offered relationship

Induces hostilities

Obligation to repay

Failure to repay renders one a beggar

Types of Reciprocity: Generalized

Reciprocity: people’s informal exchange of goods and services, and labor

Generalized Reciprocity: Generalized reciprocity is the exchange of goods and services without keeping track of their exact value, but often with the expectation that their value will balance out over time.

Ex: meat distribution among the !Kung

Ex: Parents providing for children Kids expected to care for parents in the future,

love them, give grandkids, etc

Example: family pooling of resources Ex: birthday presents

Usually occurs among close kin

Kula Ring Exchange A pattern of exchange among

many trading partners in the Trobriands and other South Pacific islands

Participants travel at times hundreds of miles by canoe in order to exchange Kula valuables which consist of red shell-disc necklaces that are traded to the north (circling the ring in clockwise direction) and white shell armbands that are traded in the southern direction (circling counterclockwise)

Generalized Reciprocity: Whaling

Inuit whale hunting involves 10 to 15 boats

The first 8 boats to harpoon the whale receive stipulated portions of the meat

The captain of the first boat gives the shaman a narrow strip cut from the belly between the 8th boat’s strip and the genitals

The top of the head is cut up and eaten at once by everyone in the village

Portions of the tail are saved for feasting in the spring and autumn

Types of Reciprocity: Balanced

Balanced Reciprocity: occurs when someone gives to someone else, expecting a fair and tangible return - at a specified amount, time, and place.

Ex: Selling surplus food Sell food when ripe / ready… known

price for food per pound, package, etc.

Ex: trading of baseball cards holding of dinner parties buying a round of drinks

Usually occurs among distant kin

Types of Reciprocity: Negative

Negative Reciprocity: an exchange where one party tries to get the better of the exchange from the other party

Examples: Hard bargaining or deception

Bartering

Gambling

Stealing

Selling used cars

Selling prepared food to a captive market

Usually occurs among unrelated persons

Reciprocity

Redistribution Process where goods and services flow to a strong

central authority (king, chief, government, kinship based leadership) where they are sorted, counted, and reallocated according to culturally specific principles

Impersonal and occurs without regard to the social position of the participants.

When this is the key economic institution, social and political goals are less important than financial goals.

Ex: Pure communism (commune, monastery, early Christianity)

Government programs and services

Ex: Potlatch a competitive giveaway practiced by the Kwakiutl and

other groups of the northwest coast of North America

Ex: Taxes Redistribution of resources occurs where these

resources are allocated back to individuals or groups within society either through the provision of public services or directly through welfare benefits.

Redistribution Leveling mechanism is a practice, value, or form

of social organization that evens out wealth within a society.

Cargo system is a ritual system common in Central and South America in which wealthy people are required to hold a series of costly ceremonial offices.

Potlatch A potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary

economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States

At potlatch gatherings, a family or hereditary leader hosts guests in their family's house and holds a feast for their guests.

The main purpose of the potlatch is the re-distribution and reciprocity of wealth.

Within it, hierarchical relations within and between clans, villages, and nations, are observed and reinforced through the distribution or sometimes destruction of wealth, dance performances, and other ceremonies. The status of any given family is raised not by who has the most resources, but by who distribute the most resources.

It equalizes the distribution of produce and confers prestige on those who give it.

Creates reciprocal obligations with those who receive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_gYjQw9Bf4

Blankets, the dominant potlatch item in the late nineteenth-century, are shown piled

high in preparation for giving.

Alert Bay potlatch showing masks, bracelets and kitchen utensils on display

under strung bolts of fabric

The “Big Men” of New Guinea

Surplus economic resources – especially pigs – are accumulated and then distributed as gifts

Giving pigs increases the personal prestige and political influence of the giver – the “Big Man”

Creates obligation among those that receive it

Market Exchange Exchange of goods among

many buyers and sellers directly, by barter, or indirectly, by money and pricing

Ex: Yoruba market in Nigeria; Haitian market woman

Markets include:

Crowds of buyers and sellers

Instant information on prices

Freedom of market entry and exit

Market Exchange

Buying and selling of goods and services

Prices set by supply and demand

Usually happens at specific times and places

Money exchanged instead of goods

Market Economy: Formal and Informal Sectors

That which is counted in the GNP (gross national product) is the formal sector.

In much of Third World, formal sector accounts for less than half of the economy.

Economic activities that aren’t counted in the GNP are in the informal sector:

Ex: prostitution flea markets drug trade bake sales Illegal immigrant labor

Capitalism Economic system

People work for wages.

Land and capital goods are privately owned.

Capital is invested for individual profit.

A small part of the population owns most of the resources or capital goods.

Division of Labor By Gender

Universal characteristic of society

In foraging societies, men generally hunt and women generally gather

In agricultural societies, both men and women play important roles in food production

Division of Labor: Craft Specialization / Detail

Labor With intensive cultivation more people

can devote full time to specialized crafts

Craft Specialization

Knowledge extends to all aspects of a given craft

Individual Assembly

Detail Labor

Industrialization

Work on one specific part of assembly

Which is more efficient in pin production?

One man cutting wire, pointing pin, putting head on it, whiting it, and papering it

Or five me, one on each task?

Industrial Production System

Detail labor involves breaking each task down to its subtasks in production

Assigning each subtask to each individual and ordering each individual how to do each subtask.

Effects: Globalized Division of Labor

Has enabled globalization of production

Labor intensive tasks sent to Third World

Such as leatherworking operation in Ecuador

Result: downsizing and plant closures

Ex: Mexican maquiladoras close

As low wages in China and Bangladesh draw factories there

Economic Inequality Inequality of wealth grows as society becomes more

complex

Scale 0 – 1: 1 is total equality

World Poverty as Percent of Population

.

If All of the Wealth of the U.S. were Represented by $100 and the Population were 100 people:

1 person would have $38.10

4 people would have 5.32 each

5 people would have 2.30 each

10 people would have 1.25 each

20 people would have .60 each

20 people would have .23 each

40 people would have ½ cent each

Warren Buffet, the World’s Fourth Richest Man

Income: $46 million last year

Tax rate: 17.7 %

His secretary earned $60,000 and paid at the 30 % rate

Lifestyles of the Superwealthy

Mirage Villas, Las Vegas, 4,500 square feet of luxury for only $4,500 per night

Ten Foot Ceilings

Silk Tapestry Wall Coverings

Italian Marble Floors

Pool and Putting Green Area with Misters

Check It Out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6Gg5BnIkDs

The Villas at the Caesars are even nicer—

8,800 sq ft for only $40,000 a night:

Villas at Caesars Palace

Dubai

Life of the Super Rich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFAvvk9gM9U

Bill Gates’ Net Worth: 2010

Over $50 billion in Microsoft stock, and an annual income of about $176 million

$30 to $40 billion that he has donated to his own charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, which is currently his main work.

Compare this with the average net worth of the top 1 percent – only $14.8 million.

Bill Gates: 2010

Bill Gates Home

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Commodification

Transformation of goods, ideas, or other entities that may not normally be regarded as goods into a commodity.

CHAAC

The Role of the Mayan Rain God:

Past and Present

CHAAC BACKGROUND

OLMEC

IZAPAN

MAYA

CHAAC BACKGROUND

CHARACTERISTICS

Elephant-like nose

Sometimes depicted with tears in the eyes, representing rain

Associated with the frog

With his lightning axe, Chaac strikes the clouds and produces thunder and rain

CHAAC BACKGROUND

Often represented as one god

OR

As the four cardinal points:

Chac Xib Chaac (red Chaac of the East)

Sac Xib Chaac (white Chaac of the North)

Ek Xib Chaac (black Chaac of the West)

Kan Xib Chaac (yellow Chaac of the South)

CHAAC BACKGROUND

Effigies of Chaac are often painted with

blue, red, yellow, white, black, and green

www.answers.com/topic/mayapan

CHAAC TODAY

Conversion to Catholicism faciliatated by replacing indigeonous gods with Saints

Pre-colonialism prayers to Chaac are still in use, with Saint Thomas in place of Chaac

CHAAC TODAY

Cities were converted to Catholisim more easily

Rural areas retained more traditional Mayan beliefs

CHAAC TODAY

Often, the people in smaller towns will first pray in the Catholic church for rain, then will take prayers to Chaac into the cornfields if the rain still does not come

CHAAC TODAY

THE RITUAL

The Mayan Shaman chooses a spot near a tree, and conducts prayers with no other people nearby

The Shaman then makes ´Kol´, a corn based food, as well as a corn based drink

Food and drink are distributed among the people

CHAAC TODAY

Regular ceremonies to Chaac still exist

Cha-chaac is a ritual performed at the start of the rainy season

Mayan people must travel far into the wilderness to practice these rites, in order to avoid persecution

COMMODIFICATION OF CHAAC

Tourism is one of the most important industries in Mexico and in the Yucatan

The Mexico Ministry of Tourism, the Commission of Tourism, and the Federal Law of Tourism work together to support this industry

COMMODIFICATION OF CHAAC

The Uxmal Light and Sound show is one example of attempts to use Mayan culture

to bring in tourist revenue

COMMODIFICATION OF CHAAC

According to Eduardo of Muna, the commodification of Chaac as ornaments or souvenirs is not offensive to the Mayan people, since the traditional ancient rites have been all but forgotten by the common people

Juan of Merida, on the other hand, suggested that peddling Chaac images, especially those made in another country, cheapens the culture

COMMODIFICATION OF CHAAC

At Muna we found representations of Chaac that were much more than simple

replicas…

Other Examples of Commodification