Application of political economy methods to anthropological study
Part of a series on
Economic, applied, and development anthropology
Basic concepts
Commodification
Barter
Debt
Finance
Embeddedness
Reciprocity
Redistribution
Value
Wealth
Gift economy
Limited good
Inalienable possessions
Singularization (commodity pathway)
Spheres of exchange
Social capital
Cultural capital
Provisioning systems
Hunting-gathering
Pastoralism
Nomadic pastoralism
Shifting cultivation
Moral economy
Peasant economics
Case studies
Prestations
Kula ring
Moka exchange
Potlatch
Gifting
Gifting remittances
Organ gifting
Shell money
Provisioning
Aché people (hunter-gatherers)
Batek people
Colonialism and development
The Anti-Politics Machine
Europe and the People Without History
Political economy
Jim Crow economy
Related articles
Critique of political economy
Original affluent society
Formalist–substantivist debate
The Great Transformation
Peasant economics
Culture of poverty
Political economy
State formation
Nutritional anthropology
Heritage commodification
Anthropology of development
Major theorists
Paul Bohannan
Alexander Chayanov
Stanley Diamond
Raymond Firth
Maurice Godelier
David Graeber
Jane I. Guyer
Keith Hart
Marvin Harris
Bronisław Malinowski
Marcel Mauss
Sidney Mintz
Karl Polanyi
Marshall Sahlins
Harold K. Schneider
Eric Wolf
Social and cultural anthropology
v
t
e
Part of a series on
Anthropology
Outline
History
Types
Archaeological
Biological
Cultural
Linguistic
Social
Archaeological
Aerial
Aviation
Battlefield
Biblical
Bioarchaeological
Environmental
Ethnoarchaeological
Experiential
Feminist
Forensic
Maritime
Paleoethnobotanical
Zooarchaeological
Biological
Anthrozoological
Biocultural
Evolutionary
Forensic
Molecular
Neurological
Nutritional
Paleoanthropological
Primatological
Social
Cultural
Applied
Art
Cognitive
Cyborg
Development
Digital
Ecological
Environmental
Economic
Political economy
Feminist
Food
Historical
Institutional
Kinship
Legal
Media
Medical
Museums
Musical
Political
Psychological
Public
Religion
Symbolic
Transpersonal
Urban
Visual
Linguistic
Anthropological
Descriptive
Ethnological
Ethnopoetical
Historical
Semiotic
Sociological
Research framework
Anthropometry
Ethnography
cyber
Ethnology
Cross-cultural comparison
Participant observation
Holism
Reflexivity
Thick description
Cultural relativism
Ethnocentrism
Emic and etic
Key concepts
Culture
Development
Ethnicity
Evolution
sociocultural
Gender
Kinship and descent
Meme
Prehistory
Race
Society
Value
Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Key theories
Actor–network theory
Alliance theory
Cross-cultural studies
Cultural materialism
Culture theory
Diffusionism
Feminism
Historical particularism
Boasian anthropology
Functionalism
Interpretive
Performance studies
Political economy
Practice theory
Structuralism
Post-structuralism
Systems theory
Lists
Anthropologists by nationality
Anthropology by year
Bibliography
Journals
List of indigenous peoples
Organizations
v
t
e
Political economy in anthropology is the application of the theories and methods of historical materialism to the traditional concerns of anthropology, including but not limited to non-capitalist societies. Political economy introduced questions of history and colonialism to ahistorical anthropological theories of social structure and culture. Most anthropologists moved away from modes of production analysis typical of structural Marxism, and focused instead on the complex historical relations of class, culture and hegemony in regions undergoing complex colonial and capitalist transitions in the emerging world system.[1]
Political economy was introduced in American anthropology primarily through the support of Julian Steward, a student of Kroeber. Steward's research interests centered on “subsistence” — the dynamic interaction of man, environment, technology, social structure, and the organization of work. This emphasis on subsistence and production - as opposed to exchange - is what distinguishes the political economy approach. Steward's most theoretically productive years were from 1946 to 1953, while teaching at Columbia University. At this time, Columbia saw an influx of World War II veterans who were attending school thanks to the GI Bill. Steward quickly developed a coterie of students who would go on to develop Political Economy as a distinct approach in anthropology, including Sidney Mintz, Eric Wolf, Eleanor Leacock, Roy Rappaport, Stanley Diamond, Robert Manners, Morton Fried, Robert F. Murphy, and influenced other scholars such as Elman Service, Marvin Harris and June Nash. Many of these students participated in the Puerto Rico Project, a large-scale group research study that focused on modernization in Puerto Rico.[1][2]
Three main areas of interest rapidly developed. The first of these areas was concerned with the "pre-capitalist" societies that were subject to evolutionary "tribal" stereotypes. Sahlins' work on hunter-gatherers as the "original affluent society" did much to dissipate that image. The second area was concerned with the vast majority of the world's population at the time, the peasantry, many of whom were involved in complex revolutionary wars such as in Vietnam. The third area was on colonialism, imperialism, and the creation of the capitalist world-system.[1]
More recently, these political economists have more directly addressed issues of industrial (and post-industrial) capitalism around the world.
^ abcRoseberry, William (1988). "Political Economy". Annual Review of Anthropology. 17: 161–85. doi:10.1146/annurev.an.17.100188.001113.
^Roseberry, William (1989). Anthropologies and Histories: essays in culture, history and political economy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutcgers University Press. pp. 146–7.
and 26 Related for: Political economy in anthropology information
Marxian political economy Perspectives on capitalism by school of thought Political ecology PoliticaleconomyinanthropologyPoliticaleconomy of climate change...
banks, and the global financial system from an anthropological perspective. Politicaleconomyinanthropology is the application of the theories and methods...
family Legal anthropology Multimodal anthropology Media anthropology Medical anthropologyPoliticalanthropologyPoliticaleconomyinanthropology Psychological...
(practice) Critique of politicaleconomy Cultural economics Dāna Economic sociology Money Palace economy Society for Economic Anthropology Chibnik, Michael...
gift giving and colonial capitalist economies. The term "cargo cult" was introduced to the field of anthropologyin 1945 around the end of World War II...
which a political leader has total control of a rural society expressed as political clientelism. This concept was most widespread in Latin America in its...
is a term used in sociology that refers to the social status of a person that is assigned at birth or assumed involuntarily later in life. The status...
and Angelique Haugerud. (2005). The anthropology of development and globalization: from classical politicaleconomy to contemporary neoliberalism. Malden...
Institute in 1940. The book contains eight separate papers produced by scholars working in the field of anthropology, each of which focuses in on a different...
introduced the term in his 1837 criticism of capitalism and of 19th century political economists. Bronterre wrote, "True politicaleconomy is like a true domestic...
Inanthropology, an age set is a social category or corporate social group, consisting of people of similar age, who have a common identity, maintain...
Development anthropology refers to the application of anthropological perspectives to the multidisciplinary branch of development studies. It takes international...
is a social system in which positions of dominance and privilege are held by men. The term patriarchy is used both inanthropology to describe a family...
Impact of Achieved and Derived Status upon the Political Participation of Women". American Journal of Political Science. 26 (2): 280–297. doi:10.2307/2111040...
cultural anthropology. In the United States, social anthropology is commonly subsumed within cultural anthropology or sociocultural anthropology.[citation...
In sociology and anthropology, an age grade or age class is a form of social organization based on age, within a series of such categories, through which...
Legal anthropology, also known as the anthropology of laws, is a sub-discipline of anthropology that uses an interdisciplinary approach to "the cross-cultural...
There is persistence of caste in Indian politics. Caste associations have evolved into caste-based political parties. Political parties and the state perceive...
wide-ranging studies integrating ecological social sciences with politicaleconomyin topics such as degradation and marginalization, environmental conflict...
larger than an extended family or clan. The general consensus of modern anthropology sees the average number of members of a social band at the simplest level...
19–35. Ronald Cohen 1978 "Ethnicity: Problem and Focus inAnthropology", Annual Review of Anthropology 7: 383–384 Palo Alto: Stanford University Press James...
Daniel G. Brinton in his paper titled, "The Aims of Anthropology" and John Van Willengen simply defined applied anthropology as "anthropology put to use" Applied...
Nutritional anthropology is the study of the interplay between human biology, economic systems, nutritional status and food security. If economic and environmental...