Political and Economic Aspects of Cultural Differences

Political and Economic Aspects of Cultural Differences
Economics:
• production – making of goods
• consumption – using up goods
• exchange – transfer of goods
Subsistence Strategies: how you meet basic survival needs of food, clothing, shelter.
• Modes of Production – dominant way you make a living
Relations of Production—relationships that organize production (serfs/lords; workers and capitalists)
Means of Production—material resources available for producing food.
Food Collectors: Foraging, Hunting and Gathering
Food Producers: Horticulturalist, Agriculturalists, Industrialists

Foraging: (Hunting and Gathering, Fishing)
Live in small, nomadic bands or tribes. No farming / livestock, but there is a well-balanced diet.Some had enough food around them they became sedentary.
Horticulture:
Domestication of crops with hands and hand-held tools only. Extensive agriculture, slash and burn agriculture
Pastoralism:
Raising of livestock / cattle. Nomadic pastoralists do little or no horticulture. Wealth measured in cattle.
Intensive Agriculture: Intense production of foods with more than just manual labor. Uses irrigation, plows, draft animals, fertilizer. Creates surpluses. Arose with first cities/ State as political system of organization.
Industrialism:
Uses heavy industry and machines as major part of subsistence. Has only existed for a few centuries. Much of the world uses industrialization today
Modes of Exchange or Distribution:
Gifts (Marcel Mauss) —are reciprocal exchanges based on social relations. Voluntary but also imply obligations and reciprocity. Value is not determined by market value or intrinsic value of the good. Person and object are tied such that the giver and the gift are intertwined in the exchange.
Commodities—person and object are alienated. • market exchange – buying and selling of commodities.
• generalized reciprocity – little interest in immediate gain
• balanced reciprocity – exchanges are equally valued
• redistribution – pool of goods created and passed out
Unbalanced Exchange (a.k.a. negative reciprocity)

Jutwasi or !Kung People (Richard Lee, The Hunters)
INFRASTRUCTURE : Means of Production

Arid region with little rainfall, scarcity of water High Death Rates and High Birth Rates keep Population low Prolonged Breast feeding, natural spacing of births through lactational amenorrhea High protein diet, infanticide Tools for carrying, bows and arrows Nuts, roots, large animals (Great diversity, rich in protein) 70% vegetable diet and 30% calories from meat
STRUCTURE: Relations of Production/Mode of Production

Family Nuclear and extended based on in-laws Economy Women gather and track animals, Men Hunt Meat is important because of scarcity No ownership of land, group rights of use to land and water Work 2.4 days/week.
. Residence Nomadic and related to kinship ties Customs Insulting the Meat, Arrow Trading for distribution of meat Generalized Reciprocity (delayed exchange) “Hxaro” Meat is never part of “Hxaro” Politics Band, bilateral kinship, informal leadership based on charismatic authority Jealousy and hoarding source of conflict Talking-----Fighting------Deadly Fighting
Fueds are ended with symmetrical killings to restore equality and end conflicts
SUPERSTRUCTURE: Ideology

Values Equality. Collectivism
Norms Reciprocity, Sharing
Religion Non-theistic, nature, ancestors, healing of illness and conflicts