Abstract
Anthropology and economics have very different approaches to the question of value. While economists look for methods of evaluation in transactions on the basis of what is being exchanged, anthropologists have always given attention to the way agents think about value in the whole range of transactions they are involved in, but at another level they look for the value of underlying structures for society.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This text was originally published as “The Ritual and the Promise: Why People Value Social Ritual”, in: Hutter, Michael; Throsby, David (Eds.): Beyond Price: Value in Culture, Economics, and the Arts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007): 141–158. Permission was granted on 28 May 2013 by Ms. Claire Taylor, Senior Publishing Assistant, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
- 2.
In recent years a new reading of Adam Smith by several authors, among them Rothschild (2001), highlights the implications of Smith’s mention of sentiments and freedoms in economic decision making as embedded in social and political contexts.
- 3.
The discussion of Clyde Kluckhorn’s Rimrock study is taken from the excellent summary by Graeber (2001).
- 4.
The basic study on this topic is Van Gennep (1960).
- 5.
Rites of solidarity were widely associated with clans and other segmentary descent groups, one of whose multifunctions was to identify group members and set one group off from another. See Harris (1971).
- 6.
They choose the colours of the cutout paper, the flowers, the napkins, the plates, and the vases that are set on the altar. In the case of new difuntos, all items have to be new. The ofrenda is framed in a certain way by placing it against a wall or in the corner inside the main room of the house, which may also be the main bedroom, or in an outside terrace. They first place the vases and the candle holders in strategic ways. Then they are careful to display the items in a certain order, i.e., first the food, then the bottles of liquor or soft drinks, then specific things the difunta or difunto liked, such as cigarettes of their preferred brand. Then they set the new mats on the floor, on which they, the women of the house and only they, place the ofrendas to be given by kin and friends.
- 7.
Analysis could be extended on this point but for the purposes of this chapter suffice it to say that there are basically three forms of prestige for individuals and families in the village. The highest value is given to social prestige, which is earned through giving service to the village, creating an intense web of giving and receiving by the male head of the family based on the social connectivity and labor of the women in his household. Second, prestige is usually also connected with political standing, when local and municipal office is held. The third way of gaining prestige is with wealth.
- 8.
“Se tiene que hacer como lo hacían los antiguos y en el tiempo de los Aztecas, voy a creer que había Pepsis”. “Pero ahora ya la gente les pone Pepsis y si eso es lo que toman, eso es lo que toman. Tampoco les ponían cigarros”. “¡Pero sí tenían tabaco, habría que ponerles hojas de tabaco!”.
References
Appadurai, Arjun, 1986: The Social Life of Things (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Arizpe, Lourdes, 2001: “Cultural Heritage and Globalization”, in: Avrami, Erika; Mason, Randall; de la Torre, Marta (Eds.): Values and Heritage Conservation (Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute): 32–37.
Arizpe, Lourdes, 2004: “Intangible Cultures Heritage: Diversity and Coherence”, in: Museum International, 221–222: 130–137.
Barth, Frederik, 1966: “Models of Social Organization”, in: Royal Anthropological Institute Occasional Paper 23 (Glasgow: Royal Anthropological Institute).
Bourdieu, Pierre, 1979: Outline of a Theory of Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Dumont, Louis, 1966: Homo Hierarchichus: The Case System and Its Implications (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Firth, Raymond, 1946: Malay Fishermen: Their Peasant Economy (London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner).
Geertz, Clifford, 1973: The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books).
Gluckman, Max, 1962: Essays on the Ritual of Social Relations (Manchester: Manchester University Press).
Graeber, David, 2001: Towards an Anthropological Theory of Value (New York: Palgrave).
Harris, Marvin, 1971: Culture, Man, Nature (New York: T. Cromwell).
Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 1963: Structural Anthropology (New York: Basic Books).
Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 1975: La Voie des Masques (Paris: Flamarion).
Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1922: Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprise and Adventure in the Archipelagoes of Melanesian New Guinea (London: Routledge).
Munn, Nancy, 1986: The Fame of Gawa: A Symbolic Study of Value Transformation in a Massim (Papua New Guinea) Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Munn, Nancy, 1992: “The Cultural Anthropology of Time: A Critical Essay”, in: Annual Review of Anthropology, 21: 93–123.
Myers, Fred (Ed.), 2001: The Empire of Things (Santa Fe: School of American Research Press).
Polanyi, Karl, 1944: The Great Transformation (New York: Rinehart).
Rothschild, Emma, 2001: Economic Sentiments: Adam Smith, Condorcet, and the Enlightenment (Boston: Harvard University Press).
Sahlins, Marshall, 1965: “Sociology of Primitive Exchange”, in: Banton, Michael (Ed.): The Relevance of Models for Social Anthropology (New York: Praeger): 139–236.
Strathern, Marilyn, 1992: “Qualified Value: The Perspective of Gift Exchange”, in: Humphrey, Caroline; Hugh-Jones, Stephen (Eds.): Barter, Exchange and Value: An Anthropological Approach (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): 169–191.
Turner, Victor, 1967: The Forest of Symbols (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2000: World Culture Report: Cultural Diversity Conflict and Pluralism (Paris: UNESCO).
Van Gennep, Arnold, 1960: Rites of Passage (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
Weiner, Annette, 1992: Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Weiner, Annette, 1994: “Cultural Difference and the Density of Objects”, in: American Ethnologist, 21: 2391–2403.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Arizpe, L. (2015). The Ritual and the Promise: Why People Value Social Ritual. In: Culture, Diversity and Heritage: Major Studies. SpringerBriefs on Pioneers in Science and Practice(), vol 12. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13811-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13811-4_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-13810-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-13811-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)