Abstract
Economic anthropology is an empirical science that describes production, exchange and consumption cross-culturally. All societies have economies, but they are variable. Anthropologists evaluate the operations of individual economies and the applicability of Western theories to these cases. Some economic processes work broadly; for example, strategic decision-making, the law of competitive advantage, and calculations of transaction costs help explain many observed patterns. Human economies, however, are often structured as intertwined sectors with distinctive processes. Differences observed in productivity, specialization, institutional structure and social motivations across history and across modern societies are of theoretical significance when constructing the limits of general theory.
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
Bibliography
Bohannan, P., and G. Dalton, eds. 1962. Markets in Africa. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
Brumfiel, E. 1980. Specialization, market exchange, and the Aztec state: A view from Huexotla. Current Anthropology 21: 459–478.
Cashdan, E. 1989. Hunters and gatherers: Economic behavior in bands. In Economic Anthropology, ed. S. Plattner. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Cook, S. 1969. The ‘anti-market’ mentality: A critique of the substantive approach to economic anthropology. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 25: 378–406.
Dalton, G., ed. 1967. Tribal and peasant economies. Garden City: Natural History Press.
Earle, T. 2002. Bronze age economics. Boulder: Westview.
Ensminger, J., ed. 2002a. Theory in economic anthropology. Walnut Creek: AltaMira.
Ensminger, J. 2002b. Experimental economics: A powerful new method for theory testing in anthropology. In Ensminger (2002a).
Firth, R. 1939. Primitive polynesian economy, 1965. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Greif, A. 2006. Institutions and the path to the modern economy: Lessons from medieval trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gudeman, S. 1998. Economic anthropology. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Hansen, K.T. 2002. Commodity chains and the international secondhand clothing trade: Salaula and the work of consumption in Zambia. In Ensminger (2002a).
Henrich, J. 2002. Decision-making, cultural transmission and adaptation in economic anthropology. In Ensminger (2002a).
Herskovits, M. 1940. Economic anthropology, 1952. New York: Knopf.
Hunt, R. 1997. Economic anthropology. In The dictionary of anthropology, ed. T. Barfield. Oxford: Blackwell.
Johnson, A., and T. Earle. 2000. The evolution of human societies. 2nd ed. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
LeClair, E.E., and H.K. Schneider, eds. 1968. Economic anthropology. New York: Holt, Rinehart.
Malinowski, B. 1922. Argonauts of the Western Pacific. London: Routledge.
Mauss, M. 1925. The gift: Forms and functions of exchange in archaic societies, 1969. London: Cohen and West.
North, D. 1990. Institutions, institutional change, and economic performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Obukhova, E., and Guyer, J.I. 2002. Transcending the formal/informal distinction: Commercial relations in Africa and Russia in the post-1989 world. In Ensminger (2002a).
Ortiz, S., ed. 1983. Economic anthropology: Topics and theories. Lanham: University Press of America.
Plattner, S., ed. 1989. Economic anthropology. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Polanyi, K. 1944. The great transformation. New York: Rinehart.
Polanyi, K., C. Arensberg, and H. Pearson, eds. 1957. Trade and market in the early empires. New York: Free Press.
Pryor, F.L. 1977. The origins of the economy. New York: Academic.
Pryor, F.L. 2005. Economic systems of foraging, agricultural, and industrial societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rutz, H., and B. Orlove, eds. 1989. The social economy of consumption. Lanham: University Press of America.
Sahlins, M. 1972. Stone age economics. Chicago: Aldine.
Schneider, H.K. 1974. Economic man: The anthropology of economics. New York: Free Press.
Sherratt, A. 1997. Economy and society in prehistoric Europe. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Earle, T. (2018). Economic Anthropology. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_146
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_146
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences