Module 4

Question 1

Cultural ecology

Answer 1

Julian Steward - in order to outline the nature of economic and political systems in their full environmental and historic contexts

Question 2

Culture

Answer 2

the complex whole: knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, + any other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as a member of society

Question 3

The role of culture in cultural ecology

Answer 3

this is how we make our lives secure with our adaptations - how humans adapt to environment to continue + secure life

Question 4

Economic anthropology

Answer 4

looks at how people produce, exchange and consume material objects - looks at roles of labour, services, and knowledges within those systems

Question 5

What does economic anthropology challenge

Answer 5

○ Challenges the idea of dominant beliefs that are held in society (in ours in particular) -
§ economic orthodoxy of most of the world: narrow lens of rational, self-interested decision making - told this is the best way to be

Question 6

economics

Answer 6

study of how we choose to use the limited resources to obtain maximum satisfaction of unlimited human wants

Question 7

Scarcity, supply, and demand

Answer 7

key idea to economics - supply and demand, idea of ‘unlimited human wants’ - there is no scarcity if there is no demand for it. supply and demand generates this idea of scarcity in respect to want

Question 8

Assumptions of economists

Answer 8

that all humans universally have unlimited wants

Question 9

Economizing problem

Answer 9

must make choices w limited resources -> scarcity of goods and services <-> unlimited wants

Question 10

John Gowdy

Answer 10

Hunter-Gatherers and the Mythology of the Market

Question 11

Gowdy’s definition of economics

Answer 11

the study of the allocation of scarce resources among alternative ends

Question 12

economic orthodoxy

Answer 12

generally accepted beliefs of society at a particular time - current economic orthodoxy is of a free market + unregulated trade - in a lot of the world true, market capitalism - cultural beliefs that support + perpetuate industrializing
® e.g. humans are naturally competitive and acquisitive, social stratification is natural

Question 13

homo economicus or ‘the economic man’

Answer 13

a theory that people will always operate in their own best interests first, and rely on rational judgements for any decisions
® Is: acquisitive, competitive, rational, calculating, looking to improve material wellbeing

Question 14

Neoclassical economics

Answer 14

dominant school of economic theory in industrialized world - economic orthodoxy - holds these attributes to be essential for economic advancement and affluence

Question 15

ANTH CRIT on the economic man + assumption of universal human nature

Answer 15

§ Argues that contemporary beliefs do not reflect the idea of universal human nature -
§ ANTH argues that the economic man is a cultural belief

Question 16

Gowdy’s CRIT on economic orthodoxy

Answer 16

□ The economic notion of scarcity is a social construct, not a universal idea
□ The separation of work from social life is not a characteristic of economic production
□ The linking of individual well being to individuals production is not a necessary characteristic of economic org
□ Inequality based on class/gender is not a necessary characteristic of human society

Question 17

other ways of being outside of market economy

Answer 17

□ Egalitarian societies, flexible social arrangements, opportunistic nature of resource exploitation, sexual division of labour, reciprocity and sharing

Question 18

Ju/’hoansi - Kalahari desert peoples (S AF)

Answer 18

one of few surviving groups that live by h-g
□ 20 hr/week to est diet high in protein, fibre, fruits, veg, low in carbs, sugar, fat - diet surpassed nutritional quality of agricultural + industrial countries - a century + of colonialism/occupation/development has changed life for Ju/’hoansi peoples

Question 19

The Hunters (1957) John Marshall

Answer 19

® Formed friendship with Ju/’hoansi peoples - particularly Toma ‘Stumpy’ - welcomed to water hole and gave them Ju/’hoan names - gave John his own name + taught them about customs, hunting, language - Toma ‘Longface’
® The Hunters - follows the hunt of a giraffe - classic ways of h-g

Question 20

Marcel Maus

Answer 20

Fr ethnologist, nephew of Durkheim - armchair anthropologist, used Boas’s data on Potlatch and Malinowski’s data on the Kula to write The Gift

Question 21

The Gift by Marcel Maus

Answer 21

explores the role of gift-giving
§ Social theories of reciprocity and gift exchange - theorized that Potlatch was extreme form of gifting - recognizable in almost every human society - we give things away - pushes pack on econ ortho

Question 22

Gifting create 3 related actions:

Answer 22

□ Gifts are given - honourable to give someone a gift
□ Gifts are received - shows that a person is willing - to be honoured - opportunity to demonstrate own generosity
Gifts are reciprocal - person who received is expected to give back to original giver - once first person gets something back - etc- gift-giving becomes endless loop of giving and receiving

Question 23

Reciprocity

Answer 23

what makes gifts unique - builds + sustains relationships - relation b/w gift giver and receiver is bound with morality - fairness b/c each present is of equal or greater value - shows willingness to honour the other person

Question 24

Gifting

Answer 24

expression of respect - keeps people connected in endless cycle of mutual obligation - socially morally ethical to give back - gifts are never truly free -
□ Arg that the act of giving creates a social bond w obligation to reciprocate - failure is detrimental

Question 25

Marshall Sahlins 3 types of reciprocity

Answer 25

Generalized, Balanced, Negative

Question 26

Generalized reciprocity

Answer 26

ift-giving w/o the expectation of an immediate return - e.g. buying coffee for friend, understanding that will be reciprocated later - socially transgressive to immediately buy them a coffee

Question 27

Balanced reciprocity

Answer 27

expectation of an immediate return - e.g. at grocery store + walk out w/o paying, def be arrested b/c failed to immediately reciprocate - Christmas gifts

Question 28

Negative Reciprocity

Answer 28

occurs when there is an attempt to get someone to exchange something they may or may not want to give up OR an attempt to get more valued thing in an exchange - e.g. bargaining - coercion - sometimes people want to give you more than something is worth

Question 29

The Kula Ring + Rules

Answer 29

Gift economy No one ever keeps any of the Kula valuables for any length of time, temporary ownership, delayed reciprocity

Question 30

Division of labour

Answer 30

how tasks are allocated within society by gender, age, and specialization

Question 31

exchange

Answer 31

a form of interaction involving reciprocal social relation

Question 32

gender

Answer 32

“the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women”

Question 33

Gift

Answer 33

an ambiguous form of exchange implying the necessity for immediate or delayed reciprocity. The topic of a famous essay by French ethnologist, Marcel Mauss, who examined the function of gift-giving in creating and maintaining social bond

Question 34

Globalization

Answer 34

“social, economic, cultural, and demographic processes that take place within nations but also transcend them, such that attention limited to local processes, identities, and units of analysis yields incomplete understanding of the local”

Question 35

hunter-gatherers

Answer 35

a non-agricultural form of primary food resource exploitation. There are many variants depending on local conditions

Question 36

kinship

Answer 36

relationship by blood or marriage

Question 37

Kula

Answer 37

a ceremonial form of delayed gift-exchange found in the island groups adjacent to the north coast of New Guinea

Question 38

mode of production

Answer 38

a term associated with the writings of Karl Marx, involving analysis of the relationship between technology, the labor process, and the distribution of power in society

Question 39

money

Answer 39

symbols representing stored wealth used to mediate the process of exchange

Question 40

potlatch

Answer 40

a form of ceremonial gift-giving found on the Northwest Coast, used to mark important social occasions, such as assuming an important title, erecting a ceremonial pole, and other significant collective events

Question 41

primitive communism

Answer 41

The notion that there was once, and in some places still is, a form of human society characterized by equality of wealth and status and the absence of private property

Question 42

reciprocity

Answer 42

the “Golden Rule” in action: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Implying a bal- ancing of the books, and not necessarily a friendly relationship—as is reciprocal murder in the course of a feud

Question 43

state of nature

Answer 43

a term used by early social and political theorists for the imagined condition of humankind before the rise of civilizatio

Question 44

the market

Answer 44

both a place and a process, where value is established and reinforced in acts of exchange. There is a large anthropo- logical literature on markets (e.g., as in Redfield’s Topoztlan; or the New York Stock Exchange)