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Economics
Science of economics focuses on how production, distribution and consumption occurs within the industrialized world
Economic anthropology (a sub-discipline of Economics) studies production, distribution and consumption comparatively in all societies of the world.
It is possible to examine economic systems cross-culturally along certain key dimensions:
- regulation of resources – how land, water and natural resources are controlled allocated
- production — how material resources are converted into useable commodities
- exchange – how the commodities, once produced, are distributed among the people of the society
Allocation of natural resources – every society has some kind of natural resources within its territorial environment – land, animals, plants, water, minerals – although depending on the location and climate the array and quantity may vary
Every society has developed a set of rules governing the allocation of resources and how they can be acceptably used
EG – land use (pretty much everyone); collection of plants and animals in what amount and from what areas (foragers); orderly use of pasture and water sources (for pastoral societies); acquisition, maintenance and passing of rights to farmland (agricultural societies)
In our society markets govern – and most things are bought and sold. Natural resources tend to be privately owned. Individual property rights are so highly valued that people may be permitted to kill anyone who violates them under certain circumstances.
Small parcels are usually held by individuals, larger ones by groups or governments
Limitations on property rights in the US – vital resources may be owned or closely regulated by the government (public utilities) and rights of eminent domain allow the government to force the sale of land for public purposes; zoning laws may limit use
This strong affiliation for territory and property is so pervasive in some societies that it has been suggested that this is some kind of instinctual territorial drive, except that some societies are totally without this focus on territoriality – and in some there is no concept of individual land ownership or control.
Attitudes about resource allocation and access to land tend to vary depending on the society:
FOOD COLLECTORS
In most of these land is not owned in the Western sense of the term either by individuals or collectively.
Open or flexible borders are the most adaptable for people who must follow animal migrations or seasonal plant foods – climate conditions (drought, etc) may require that they range beyond a restricted area.
And claiming or defending a specific area requires time, energy and technology that many foraging people don’t have or choose not to adopt.
And territoriality can lead to conflicts and warfare with violators of property rights
Where food and water are plentiful and predictable foragers may have permanent settlements, but with variable availability of food and water more mobility will be needed and open borders would better serve.
PASTORALISTS
Pastoralists also require extensive territory for pasturage and water for livestock.
Pastoralists in marginal areas may need to range over large areas to acquire the resources they need so a more free access model may be needed. Where pasture and water is abundant there is likely to be more formal controls over the land and its use.
Pastoralists must occasionally work out agreements between their cultures and non-pastoral cultures to gain access to pasture and water for animals.
There are occasional variations but for the most part pasture is corporately controlled (by the group, in toto) among pastoral people, and is usually considered to be owned by the entire group collectively. Management of the land will involve decisions based on the type of animals to be pastured, the need to avoid destruction of pasture through overgrazing, variations in climate and rainfall in various seasons.
Agreements with outsiders may be sought to allow for grazing on newly harvested fields, or access to water outside their traditional areas. This pressure to accommodate their animals’ needs may place these otherwise non-affiliated people in the orbit of other’s conflicts – political alliances based on the need to use land or water. P. 183 the Fulani of northern Nigeria have had to retain special contacts with sedentary horticulturalists to maintain access to water and pastures – bringing them into the orbit of the Muslim states of western Sudan, and involving them in politics and conflict that they otherwise would have had no part of to expand or maintain their pastoral opportunities.
HORTICULTURALISTS
Horticulturalists tend to live on communally controlled lands – usually an extended kinship group. Small family units or polygynous families may be granted provisional use of the land by the larger kinship group – work the land, stay in good stead with the family…use the land at the will of the larger group.
Horticulturalists are shifting cultivators, (slash and burn, cultivate until spent and then move on to the next plot – the old plot grows over again) and there are no benefits to ownership of a particular plot of land that will not be used or needed permanently.
In Samoa the land belongs to the extended family that clears and plants it — the land is worked under the authority of a matai (an elected leader who holds title on behalf of the group) – should the matai falter in his duties to care for the extended family they may take his title – any individual has rights in the land held by the family so long as they live on the land, serve and pay allegiance to the matai.
INTENSIVE AGRICULTURALISTS
The concept of private ownership of land is more common in agricultural societies where the same land is used year after year – giving the land permanent and continual value.
Different ownership rights may exist in situations where communally held property is shared – you milk this cow Monday and Weds, I milk her tues and thurs. The cow may be controlled by the lineage group, and what we own may be limited rights to use the cow.
Swahili has no word for own, instead nina means “I am with.”
Sometimes land seems vacant and unused but may be part of the domain of a group – European settlers often assumed that unoccupied land was unclaimed and unused land but in reality it may be hunting grounds belonging to a specific group/tribe and was claimed and used but not in a western conventional sense.
Tragedy of the commons – the concept that whatever is communally owned is claimed by no one and cared for by no one and that private property ownership will protect resources.
A heavily western idea that is not borne out when considered in light of traditional pastoral societies.
PRODUCTION –
The process of obtaining goods from the natural environment and transforming them into useable objects is what economists call production.
All humans must meet certain fundamental material needs but how this is done varies greatly from society to society.
Why a society produces the things it does is determined to some extent by the accessibility of resources, technology for processing resources and the abundance of energy supplies. This is only part of the equation – cultural values also play a role in determining production.
Most societies fail to exploit all the resources that are available to them – some societies that live along water have strong taboos against eating fish, Hindus have an abundance of cows but do not eat beef for religious reasons, we have lots of cats and dogs and rats but don’t eat them – although they are a rich source of protein.
the failure to exploit all resources at their disposal is not necessarily irrational as it may first appear – Hindu people use cattle for draft animals and milk, fertilizer and fuel (dung) – cattle as a food source would be expensive and overextend the carrying capacity of the land.
UNITS OF PRODUCTION—
Like other parts of culture the way people go about producing is not random but systematic, organized, and patterned.
in industrialized societies the productive unit is the private company – with employees with specific roles coordinated to produce the goods or services of the firm. Employees receive salaries and use them to purchase the goods and services they need.
in non-industrialized societies the productive unit is the household. in small scale societies most if not all of the goods and services consumed are produced by members of the household (may be an extended family situation, multiple generations, polygynous situations). Some members may not actually live in the household but may work elsewhere to assure the well-being of those who do.
in horticultural societies most households are self-sufficient – Build homes, gather firewood, grow food, make their own tools, clothes, produce containers for storing and cooking food – if a particular task is too complex for a single household larger groups of family members or neighbors may band together to complete the task.
both the company and the household are units of production
the household is more self-sufficient, businesses are more productive because they concentrate solely on their economic function and do not need to be concerned with the needs of its employees, households as productive units are rooted in the social needs of their members.
DIVISION OF LABOR
Part of the process of production is the allocation of tasks to be performed.
Most societies have specific ideas about what is appropriate labor for men and women, adults and children. All societies also make distinctions based on gender and age.
Age is a universal basis for division of labor. Children in many societies contribute much in the way of labor – tending animals, childcare, fetching water and firewood, cooking and cleaning. In some cases kids as young as 6 are considered capable of tending younger siblings for a good part of the day.
Gender may determine which tasks are societally acceptable for men and which for women. In many societies women are charged with tending crops, gathering wild foods, care for children, cooking food – Men may be charged with hunting, building shelters, clearing land for cultivation, fishing, trapping and serving as political functionaries.
Explanations for this?
- men have greater body mass and strength so tasks that require these are left to them
- women tend toward tasks that are compatible with childbearing and childrearing tasks, easily interrupted, let them stay closer to home, are less dangerous for children
- men are given more dangerous tasks because reproductively they are more expendable than women
sometimes these divisions are cultural and simply arbitrary – traditional Hopi men are the spinners, weavers and tailors of their societies, women in our own society are excluded from jobs that men where have no biological advantage in performing the tasks involved – MLB umpire, jockeys. In some societies the division is so culturally enforced that the genders do not understand the occupational skills for the opposite genders’ tasks.
LABOR SPECIALIZATION
With the rise of agriculture the efficient production of food allowed for some people to be freed up from food gathering to concentrate on a specialized trade that did not involve producing food. This created an interdependency within the societies as people needed to stick together and support each other in order for everyone to have the goods and services that they needed.
DISTRIBUTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES
Systems of exchange are essential for every economy – they allow for the disposal of surplus product and maximize the diversity of the goods and services consumed.
3 forms of distribution
reciprocity, redistribution and market exchange
Reciprocity — the exchange of goods and services of roughly equal value between two parties with the use of money.
generalized, balanced and negative reciprocity:
generalized – usually between family members or close friends, highest level of moral obligation – a form of gift giving without expectation of immediate return eg: parents and children, sharing of a successful hunt in a foraging society where generosity and cooperation is valued. Not altruistic entirely, in a small scale society without workman’s comp and retirement benefits the best way to have assistance when you may need it is to step up unselfishly when others need help.
balanced – a form of exchange involving the expectation that goods and services of equivalent value will be returned within a specific time frame. this often involves a trade of surplus goods for goods in short supply and allows both parties to have a wider variety of goods and services. this form of trade also serves to solidify social relationships =
Semang – place goods in a specific location, return later and collect the goods left for them. try hard not to see their partners to avoid conflict with them and upset relationship.
Kula Ring – the Trobriand of New Guinea have an elaborate and highly ritualized pass of shell bracelets and shell necklaces that pass in opposite directions between a ring of islands, the bracelets move counterclockwise, the necklaces clockwise and solidify the trading relationships between partners – some are especially known and valued but must be passed along as evidence of good faith and the desire to maintain the system as they pass along with ordinary trade goods. Equality, honor and generosity are the core of the system, the shell trinkets are ceremonial goods that represent the value of the relationship to the participants.
negative reciprocity – a form of exchange where equals do their best to take advantage of each other. — involves impersonal social relations – hard bargaining, cheating or theft. NO sense of altruism or social obligation, usually practiced between strangers and enemies.
Redistribution – when a social center gathers goods and then redisperses them. found most often in societies with political hierarchies – chiefdoms and states – but found in some form in all societies.
Family head collects surplus agriculture products and distributes them to the family as needed. A central government collects taxes and then provides goods and services – roads, education, public health projects. the Salvation Army and Goodwill collect goods and use them to provide services to the poor.
Tribute to chiefs, Feasts by Big Men/Women, Bridewealth, Potlatch
all forms of redistribution. sometimes a way to build personal prestige and power as well as provide for members of society.
MARKET EXCHANGE –
Goods and services are bought and sold through the use of standardized currency.
Value is determined by supply and demand. Less personal than other forms of trade and exchange – predominantly economic, little social aspect – focus is on profit and not long-term relationships or proving allegiance to a leader.
Most likely in sedentary societies that have production surpluses and complex division of labor — the more labor specialization in a society brings with it a proliferation of specialized commodities and increased dependency on market exchange.
STANDARDIZED CURRENCY –
A commonly found trait of market economies is the use of standardized currency for the exchange of goods and services.
Money is a generally accepted medium of exchange that also measures the value of a particular item.
the use of money is more flexible than direct exchange of one item for another – hard to find the one person who has what you want and wants what you have
money is divisible – change!
money is generally portable and easy to transport – coins vs. camels
money is a form of deferred payment – it promises the ability to obtain things of value in the future
money is only valuable when the members of the society agree that it is
other forms of exchange in a market economy – barter
market exchange demands that the value of a good or service is determined by the market principle of supply and demand.
Globalization –
the concept that economies will be healthier and growth will occur more rapidly if we allow market forces to rule and if we open up all economies to free trade and competition. Involves the lowering of tariff barriers (or eliminating them) deregulation and privatizing services formerly provided by governments –
- 205
but in fact globalization has failed to reduce poverty around the world and after several decades of global economic deregulation the gap between rich and poor is pretty much unchanged and may be even worse in some areas of the world.
Issues that need to be considered include
improving international governance
providing a level playing field for poorer countries
better enforcement of international labor standards.
Knowing the cultures of trading partners will help to accommodate trade, and sensitivity to different customs and practices will improve relations, aid in trade and hopefully allow both sides to benefit from the relationship.
Economics notes