ANTH 2 CHAPTER 6

kin ordered (domestic) mode of production

organizes work on basis of family relations, -produce food to feed family and sell rest -doesn't always involve power or control or social domination -people own their own land and control over labor and work schedule

tributary mode of production

-found in social systems divided into classes of rulers and subjects -primary producer pays tribute in the form of material goods or labor to another individual or group -subjects produce food for themselves and families and give amount to their rules as tribute -pre capitalist -production is controlled politically rather than direct means

markets

-are social institutions with prices or exchange equivalencies. -not necessarily have to be localized in a geographic place (marketplace), but they cannot exist without institutions to govern the exchanges. -Market and reciprocal exchange appear to share similar features: one person gives something and the other receives something. - A key distinction between the two is that market exchanges are regulated by supply and demand mechanisms. -personalized transactions vs relative strangers

consumption and identity examples

-consumption helps us establish and defend differences among people and occasions: I might wear a specific t-shirt and cap to a baseball game with friends in order to distinguish myself as a fan of a particular team. In the process, I make myself easily identifiable within the larger fan community. -However, I probably would not wear this same outfit to a job interview because it would be inappropriate for the occasion.

negative reciprocity

-is an attempt to get something for nothing. -it is the most impersonal of the three forms of reciprocity and it commonly exists among people who do not know each other well because close relationships are incompatible with attempts to take advantage of other people. ex) Gambling, nigerian email scams and some would argue that market exchange, in which one participant aims to buy low while the other aims to sell high, can also be a form of negative reciprocity.

balanced reciprocity

-direct exchange in which something is traded or given with the expectation that something of equal value will be returned within a specific time period. -This form of reciprocity involves three distinct stages: the gift must be given, it has to be received, and a reciprocal gift has to be returned. -A key aspect of balanced reciprocity is that without reciprocation within an appropriate time frame, the exchange system will falter and the social relationship might end. -generally occurs at a social level more distant than the family, but it usually occurs among people who know each other

!Kung

-foraging society -live all together in small camp -women collect food, men hunt of vice versa

general purpose money

-While general purpose money is not a prerequisite for market exchanges, most commercial transactions today do involve the exchange of money. -general purpose money can be exchanged for all manner of goods and services. -serves as a medium of exchange, a tool for storing wealth, and as a way to assign interchangeable values. -it makes products and services from all over the world commensurable in terms of a single metric. In so doing, it increases opportunities for unequal exchange.

capitalism mode of production

-is different mode as an economic system based on private property owned by a capitalist class -in capitalist mode, workers don't own the factory they work in whereas they may own their own land in other modes private property is owned by members of capitalist class -workers selling labor and time and people paying for it -surplus of wealth produced, either kept or redistributed

mode of exchange

-market exchange: form of trade that involves general purpose money, supply/demand pricing -reciprocacy: involves exchange of goods and services and is rooted in a mutual sense of obligation and identity -redistribution: occurs when a authority of some type (priest, chief, king) collects economic contributions from all members of a community and redistributes them back

consumption

-refers to the process of buying, eating, or using a resource, food, commodity, or service. -Anthropologists understand consumption more specifically as the forms of behavior that connect our economic activity with the cultural symbols that give our lives meaning. - each culture is different and each consumes in its own way. Consumption is always social even when it addresses physical needs. For example, all humans need to eat, but people around the world have radically different ideas of what foods and flavors are most desirable and appropriate

homo economicus

a term used to describe a person who would make rational decisions in ways predicted by economic theories.

political economy

an approach in anthropology that investigates the historical evolution of economic relationships as well as the contemporary political processes and social structures that contribute to differences in income and wealth.

generalized reciprocity

giving without expecting a specific thing in return ex) having a baby people give you gifts

structural violence

is a form of violence in which a social structure or institution harms people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. In other words, how political and economic forces structure risk for various forms of suffering within a population. -can include things like infectious disease, hunger, and violence (torture, rape, crime, etc.).

redistribution

is the accumulation of goods or labor by a particular person or institution for the purpose of dispersal at a later date -required centralized social organization ex) within households we pool our labor and resources, yet we rarely distribute these outside of our family ex) During the 2015 fiscal year the IRS collected $3.3 trillion in federal revenue and $403.3 billion tax dollars were redistributed by this central political apparatus

domestic production - subsistence farmers

mode of production shaped by age and gender forms of inequality -organized by kinship relations to produce food for ones own family, sell the rest -often produce coffee -live both inside and outside of global capitalism -might produce some commodity, but mostly work to feed families -families want economic autonomy

means of production

the resources used to produce goods in a society such as land for farming or factories.

mode of production

the social relations through which human labor is used to transform energy from nature using tools, skills, organization, and knowledge -3 distinct modes: domestic (kin ordered), tributary and capitalist