Moral Economy: 25 Concepts in Anthropology
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A preview of how anthropologists use the concept of "moral economy". Sources include: * Scott, James C. 1975 The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia. New Haven: Yale University Press. * Thompson, E.P. 1971 The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century. Past and Present 50:76-136. About me: I'm Nick Herriman, author of The Entangled State and Witch-hunt and Conspiracy. In the "25 Concepts in Anthropology" series, I preview what I think are the 25 most important concepts in socio-cultural anthropology. Each concept provides a unique insight into what it is to be human. I am also the 'Audible Anthropologist' on iTunesU.
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2016 notes on Moral Economy (thanks to ANT4COR La Trobe students):
Moral Economy =
“a consistent traditional view of social norms and obligations, of the proper economic functions of several parties within the community” (Thompson 1971, p. 79)
* peasants' “notion of economic justice and their working definition of exploitation” (exploitation is defined as claims which threaten subsistence) (Scott 1975, p. 3); what claims are tolerable, and what makes them angry.
*"a common notion of the just distribution of resources and social exchange" (Mau 2007).
The idea that morality is tied up with economy was already implied by Mauss's observation that giving implies an obligation--giving is thus moral. Later anthropologists e.g. Gouldner "Norm of Reciprocity" confirmed this normative or moral aspect of economy.
Thompson's take on moral economy is that strikes, peasant rebellions are not simply caused by hunger. For instance, during a famine, if everybody is starving this might be accepted. But if some people are profiteering during a famine, this might prompt others to rebel.
Scott's take on moral economy is that Southeast Asian peasants were living as if they were up to their necks in water (i.e. barely surviving). Rather than some people pushing down on others in order to prop themselves up (i.e. amassing wealth), cultural and societal norms enforced shared poverty (work, land, food etc. shared). The principle was that no-one should flourish, but nor should anyone stave--a kind of common survival strategy. This is similar to what Geertz had called "agricultural involution" when discussing the colonial economy of 1800s Java.
One application of this concept is in critiquing neoliberalism it is argued that market principles of competition overcome the demands of moral economy.
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