Anthropology › Section G · Economic anthropology › Topic G.6
Exchange, value, and consumption
Goods do not just move from producers to users; they carry relationships, obligations and meanings with them. Economic anthropology asks why a gift can bind people for life, why some things cannot be bought, and what people say about themselves through what they consume.
In this topic
- More than markets
- Sahlins's spectrum of reciprocity
- Mauss and the gift
- The kula ring
- Worked example: naming the exchange
- Redistribution and the potlatch
- Spheres of exchange
- Worked example: when money arrived
- The myth of barter
- Value and consumption
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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