How anthropologists study exchange, trade, and economic systems across cultures.
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- Reciprocity
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Mutual exchange of goods or services based on social obligation rather than strict market value- Redistribution
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System where goods flow to a central authority, then distributed back to community members- Who studied the Kula ring?
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Bronislaw Malinowski- Kula ring
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Ceremonial exchange system among Trobriand Islanders where shell valuables circulate in a ring, maintaining social bonds between distant communities- Embedded economy (Polanyi)
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Economic exchange inseparable from social and political relationships in pre-capitalist societies- Substantivism vs formalism debate
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Disagreement over whether non-capitalist economies follow fundamentally different logic than market economies- Generalized reciprocity (Sahlins)
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Exchange with no immediate return expected, typical of family or close group sharing- Balanced reciprocity (Sahlins)
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Exchange with roughly equivalent return within reasonable time, typical of inter-group trade- Negative reciprocity (Sahlins)
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Exchange where both parties attempt to gain advantage; haggling or barter with minimal social obligation- Potlatch
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Gift-giving feast among Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous peoples where hosts gain status through giving away or destroying wealth- Purpose of the Kula ring (Malinowski)
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Maintains peace and social bonds between distant communities while enabling practical everyday trade in basic goods- Bridewealth
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Goods or payment transferred from groom's family to bride's family upon marriage- Gift economy
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Economic system based on reciprocal gift-giving rather than monetary exchange or competitive markets- David Graeber on debt history
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Argued that credit and debt systems preceded money and barter in human economic history- Commodity fetishism
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Process where manufactured goods appear to have value independent of the labor and social relations creating them
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