Economic Anthropology

Ritual exchange and the fourth obligation: ancient Maya food offering and the flexible materiality of ritual

by Christopher Morehart

Complexities of Collapse: Maya Obsidian as Revealed by Social Network Graphical Analysis (Mark Golitko, James Meierhoff, Gary M. Feinman, and Ryan Williams, 2012)

by Gary Feinman

Antiquity 86:507-523

The Fourth Obligation: Food Offerings in Caves and the Materiality of Sacred Relationships

by Christopher Morehart

Preindustrial Markets and Marketing: Archaeological Perspectives

by Christopher Garraty

Feinman, Gary M., and Christopher P. Garraty (2010)

Markets are key contemporary institutions, yet there is little agreement concerning their history or diversity. To... more Markets are key contemporary institutions, yet there is little agreement concerning their history or diversity. To complicate matters, markets have been considered by different academic disciplines that approach the nature of such exchange systems from diametrically opposed perspectives that impede cross-disciplinary dialogue. This paper reviews the theoretical and methodological issues surrounding the detection, development, and significance of markets in the preindustrial past. We challenge both the view that marketing is natural and the perspective that market exchange is unique to modern capitalist contexts. Both of these frameworks fail to recognize that past and present market activities are embedded in their larger societal contexts, albeit in different ways that can be understood only if examined through a broadly shared theoretical lens.We examine the origins, change, and diversity of preindustrial markets, calling for multiscalar, cross-disciplinary approaches
to investigate the long-term history of this economic institution.

Using Network Expectations to Identify Multiple Exchange Systems: A Case Study from Postclassic Sauce and its Hinterland in Veracruz, Mexico

by Alanna Ossa

Article IN REVIEW for Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

Origins and Development of Mesoamerican Marketplaces: Evidence from South-Central Veracruz, Mexico

by Alanna Ossa

Co-Authored with Barbara L. Stark and Alanna Ossa

Pawning for Financing Health Expenditures: Do Health Shocks Increase the Probability of Losing the Pledge?

by Jayant Anand

Published in  Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume 26, 2008

Evidence from developed countries shows debt and bankruptcy to be correlated with medical expenditures. In Mexico, the... more Evidence from developed countries shows debt and bankruptcy to be correlated with medical expenditures. In Mexico, the formal financial sector does not lend for health needs. So, the solution is often found by borrowing from relatives, friends, and moneylenders, or pawning belongings after using savings, if any. Despite the recent and growing literature on income and health, and health financing, we have not come across a single study analyzing pawning and health. Our study fills this gap using a sample of 400 government owned pawnshop users from Puebla, Mexico. The findings from the study revealed that health expenditures are a significant reason for pawning and having medical insurance does not reduce the probability to pawn. Also, catastrophic health expenditures are correlated with a higher probability of not redeeming the pledge. We found that most pawnshop users have low income and losing a pledge is positively correlated with low or middle income and the number of people in the household.

Social capital as an incentive for participation and formation of women-dominant ROSCA

by Jayant Anand

Published in Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume 29 , 2009

The literature on Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), commonly known as tandas in Mexico, indicates a... more The literature on Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), commonly known as tandas in Mexico, indicates a higher participation of women but generally fails to detect the reasons thereof. This chapter partially bridges the gap by considering the role of social capital in these organizations. The findings of this study show that socioeconomic factors, the gender of the member majority, and acceptance levels in the group influence the higher participation of women. However, access to formal credit markets does not influence this behavior. Moreover, trust in women-based groups and the benefits obtained from membership further contribute to higher participation of women. The participation of men in ROSCAs seems to be related to motivational factors that are different from those for women. For women, social capital is especially relevant for gender-based group formation.

Supermarketization, consumer choices, and the changing food retail market structure: the case of Citlalicalli, Mexico

by Jayant Anand

Published in  Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume  29, 2009

This chapter evaluates the proliferation of supermarkets in developing countries using data collected between May 2005... more This chapter evaluates the proliferation of supermarkets in developing countries using data collected between May 2005 and June 2006 in Citlalicalli, Mexico. Contrary to the experience of most developed countries, this study revealed that supermarkets and small retailers can coexist by catering to different income groups and product categories. Consumer choices are driven by the desire to reduce transaction costs in terms of time and money. In striking a balance between the two, consumers look for retail outlets that offer them the best value for their money with the least amount of time spent in shopping trips. Location of the store plays a critical role in buying choices that consumers make. In developing countries, generally, only high-income consumers can afford to own cars and choose to buy most products in supermarkets. Consumers without cars buy frequently purchased goods (foods) in small stores and infrequently purchased goods (consumer durables) in supermarkets.

Supermarketization, consumer choices, and the changing food retail market structure: the case of Citlalicalli, Mexico

by Jayant Anand

Published in  Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume  29, 2009

This chapter evaluates the proliferation of supermarkets in developing countries using data collected between May 2005... more This chapter evaluates the proliferation of supermarkets in developing countries using data collected between May 2005 and June 2006 in Citlalicalli, Mexico. Contrary to the experience of most developed countries, this study revealed that supermarkets and small retailers can coexist by catering to different income groups and product categories. Consumer choices are driven by the desire to reduce transaction costs in terms of time and money. In striking a balance between the two, consumers look for retail outlets that offer them the best value for their money with the least amount of time spent in shopping trips. Location of the store plays a critical role in buying choices that consumers make. In developing countries, generally, only high-income consumers can afford to own cars and choose to buy most products in supermarkets. Consumers without cars buy frequently purchased goods (foods) in small stores and infrequently purchased goods (consumer durables) in supermarkets.

The Institutional Process of Market Clientelism: Guanxi and Private Business in a South China City

by David Wank

The China Quarterly 147 (September, 1996): 820-838.

Cigarettes and Domination in Chinese Business Networks: Institutional Change in Market Transition

by David Wank

In The Consumer Revolution in Urban China. Edited by Deborah S. Davis, pp. 268-286. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Neoliberalism and geography: expansions, variegations, formations

by Simon Springer

Springer, S. 2010. Neoliberalism and geography: expansions, variegations, formations. Geography Compass. 4 (8), 1025-1038.

The pervasiveness of neoliberalism within the field of human geography is remarkable, especially when we consider its... more The pervasiveness of neoliberalism within the field of human geography is remarkable, especially when we consider its virtual absence from the literature less than a decade ago. While the growing attention afforded to neoliberalism among geographers is new, the phenomenon of neoliberalism is not. This paper traces the intellectual history of neoliberalism and its expansions across various institutional frameworks and geographical settings. I review the primary contributions geographers have made to the literature, and specifically their recognition for neoliberalism’s variegations within existing political economic matrixes and institutional frameworks. Contra the prevailing view of neoliberalism as a pure and static end-state, geographical inquiry illuminates neoliberalism as a dynamic and unfolding process. The concept of ‘neoliberalization’ is thus seen as more appropriate to geographical theorizations insofar as it recognizes neoliberalism’s hybridized and mutated forms as it travels around our world. I also consider some of the most salient ways that neoliberalism has been theorized among human geographers. In particular, I highlight understandings of neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology, as a policy-based approach to state reform, and as a particular logic of governmentality, arguing that while there are significant differences between these various formations, it may also be important to work beyond methodological, epistemological, and ontological divides in the larger interest of social justice.

When Good Theories Go Bad: Theory in Economic Anthropology and Consumer Research

by Richard Wilk

Published in 2002 as 2002  “When Good Theories Go Bad: Theory in Economic Anthropology and Consumer Research.” In Theory in Economic Anthropology, edited by Jean Ensminger, Altamira Press: Walnut Creek. Pp. 239-250.

How important is high-level theory in economic anthropology? This paper contrasts the approaches of practicing social... more How important is high-level theory in economic anthropology? This paper contrasts the approaches of practicing social scientists in consumer research and marketing (which could be defined as a sort of applied economic anthropology), with current economic anthropologists. I discuss the role of elite "high theorists" in both disciplines, and the contrasting ways that theory informs practice. In marketing and consumer research, much of what passes for theory is really just taxonomy, and low-level generalization. Yet the empirical work actively engages those propositions, and is sometimes used to invalidate them. In anthropological work on consumption, there is a great deal of quite high-level and abstract theory, but fieldwork and research rarely challenges or reflects upon these theoretical premises. The gulf between observations and the theories that drive and inform them sometimes threatens to swallow the whole enterprise.

Questionable Assumptions about Sustainable Consumption

by Richard Wilk

Published as Wilk, Richard 2004 “Questionable Assumptions about Sustainable Consumption.” In The Ecological Economics of Consumption, edited by Lucia Reisch and Inge Røpke, Current Issues in Ecological Economics, Edward Elgar (Cheltenham UK). Pp. 17-22.

This paper questions some common assumptions about consumption that have been part of the discussion of sustainable... more This paper questions some common assumptions about consumption that have been part of the discussion of sustainable consumption. First it queries the term “consumption” itself, arguing that the term has been used with such imprecision that it obscures essential issues relating to the differences between goods and services, stocks and flows. Second, it addresses the idea that the historical development of consumer culture can be ‘reversed,’ suggesting that the past can never be a good model for a sustainable future. Instead, we need to better understand the social and psychological adjustments of people in the present who are voluntarily and involuntarily lowering their standards of living. Finally, the paper addresses units and levels of analysis, questioning work that is based on a world of individual consumers faced with abstract social and economic forces.

Consuming Ourselves to Death

by Richard Wilk

published as
Wilk, Richard 2009 “Consuming Ourselves to Death.” In Anthropology and Climate Change: from Encounters to Actions, edited by Susan Crate.  Duke University Press. Pp. 265-276.

Ultimately climate change is the product of consumption; greenhouse gases are produced by making things and energy,... more Ultimately climate change is the product of consumption; greenhouse gases are produced by making things and energy, moving things, and carrying people around. Simply put, more people are using more energy and creating and using more “stuff” than ever before in the history of the planet. Besides lamenting the passing of low-impact village-level societies, what does anthropology have to say about consumer culture which might actually be useful in thinking our way towards more sustainable levels of consumption? I argue that a drastic re-orientation of the way we teach anthropology is in order; what do we want our students to learn about the world and what kind of skills do they need? The same argument can be made for the public messages we extend in our popular publications.

Water Magic

by Richard Wilk

Published as
2012 “Water Magic.” in People at the Well: Kinds, Usages and Meanings of Water in a Global Perspective, edited by Hans Peter Hahn, Karlheinz Cless and Jens Soentgen, Campus Verlag, Frankfurt.

Human beings always seem to be looking for new ways to contain, channel and domesticate water; science and technology... more Human beings always seem to be looking for new ways to contain, channel and domesticate water; science and technology define it, manipulate it, and keep it in place. But there is something in water that seems to defy our every effort to pin it into a specific place, to keep it within boundaries and make it predictable. Sooner or later channels and containers always overflow or dry up, and no matter how tame it appears at a given moment, the flow of water always carries a potential for chaos.

From Wild Weeds to Artisanal Cheese

by Richard Wilk

published as
2006 “From Wild Weeds to Artisanal Cheese.” In Fast Food/Slow Food, edited by Richard Wilk, Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.

This is the introduction to the book FAST FOOD/SLOW FOOD published by Altamira Press in 2006, available on Amazon.com.... more This is the introduction to the book FAST FOOD/SLOW FOOD published by Altamira Press in 2006, available on Amazon.com. It is actually chapter 2 - the first chapter is an introcution by Sidney Mintz.

Consumer Culture and Extractive Industry on the Margins of the World System

by Richard Wilk

Published 2006 “Consumer Culture and Extractive Industry on the Margins of the World System.” In Consumer Cultures: Global Perspectives, Edited by John Brewer and Frank Trentmann, Oxford: Berg Publishers. Pp. 123-144.

Our understanding of the origins of modern consumer culture is based largely on research done in Europe and North... more Our understanding of the origins of modern consumer culture is based largely on research done in Europe and North America, among the emerging middle classes. New forms of public display and the respectability of the conjugal family, we are told, fueled the demand for new goods and drove the cycle of fashion.  In this paper I search in another direction for a major contributor to the historical expansion of mass consumption; to the working classes who were on the distant frontiers of the expanding European economic system, beginning in the 16th century.

The setting I will explore is the male “crew” engaged in manual  labor, producing, transporting, and extracting valuable goods for long distance trade. These men subsisted for long periods on basic rations under harsh discipline and constant supervision, engaging in dangerous and often brutal labor. These periods of privation, brightened only by rations of liquor and tobacco, alternated with short bursts of wild revelry and dissolution which only ended when money and credit were exhausted. The rhythm of rations and binges defined working class consumption for hundreds of thousands of loggers, sailors, miners, sealers, whalers, cowboys and pirates for more than 400 years, and it continues today among male-dominated manual professions. This ‘binge economy’ also made important contributions to the fantasies and imagination that are keys to the modern mass culture of consumption.

Scaling Cigars

by Valerio Simoni