Economic anthropology / Chris Hann, Keith Hart.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hann, C. M., 1953-

Contributor:

Hart, Keith.

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic anthropology.

Physical Description:

x, 206 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Polity, 2011.

Summary:

This book is a new introduction to the history and practice of economic anthropology by two leading authors in the field. They show that anthropologists have contributed to understanding the three great questions of modern economic history: development, socialism and one-world capitalism. In doing so, they connect economic anthropology to its roots in Western philosophy, social theory and world history.

Up to the Second World War anthropologists tried and failed to interest economists in their exotic findings. They then launched a vigorous debate over whether an approach taken from economics was appropriate to the study of non-industrial economies. Since the 1970s, they have developed a critique of capitalism based on studying it at home as well as abroad.

The authors aim to rejuvenate economic anthropology as a humanistic project at a time when the global financial crisis has undermined confidence in free market economics. They argue for the continued relevance of predecessors such as Marcel Mauss and Karl Polanyi, while offering an incisive review of recent work in this field.

Economic Anthropology is an excellent introduction for social science students at all levels, and it presents general readers with a challenging perspective on the world economy today. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Economic Anthropology 1

Some Issues of Method 3

The Human Economy 6

Critical Anthropology 9

Organization of the Book 15

2 Economy from the Ancient World to the Age of the Internet 18

Economy as Household Management 18

Medieval and Early Modern Roots of Economic Theory 20

The Rise of Political Economy 24

The Economic Anthropology of Karl Marx 27

National Capitalism and Beyond 29

Conclusion 34

3 The Rise of Modern Economics and Anthropology 37

The German Tradition 39

The British Tradition 42

The American Tradition 46

The French Tradition 48

Conclusion 53

4 The Golden Age of Economic Anthropology 55

Karl Polanyi and the Substantivist School 56

The Formalists 64

Conclusion 70

5 After the Formalist-Substantivist Debate 72

Marxism 73

Feminism 79

The Cultural Turn 83

Hard Science 88

The Anthropology of Money 93

Conclusion 97

6 Unequal Development 100

Development in an Unequal World 101

Anthropologists and Development 105

The Anthropology of Development in Africa 109

The Informal Economy 112

Beyond Development? 116

Conclusion 119

7 The Socialist Alternative 121

Socialism 123

Postsocialist Transformation 130

Reform Socialism 137

Conclusion 139

8 One-world Capitalism 142

The Development of Capitalism 143

Industrial Work 149

Consumption 152

Corporate Capitalism 155

Money and the Financial Crisis 159

Conclusion 161

9 Where Do We Go From Here? 163

History, Ethnography, Critique 164

Economic Anthropology as a Discipline 169

Farewell to Homo economicus 172.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 179-195) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780745644820

0745644821

074564483X

9780745644837

OCLC:

660536852