E420        ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY    Spring 2005

 

Course Schedule of Topics

Text Reading Schedule

Papers and Copies on Reserve or Online

 

 

Jan 10           

 

Course Introduction

Jan 12 –

Feb 2 

(no class on Jan 17)

Three Paradigms Of Economics & Human Nature

All of the Wilk text

Elster, J., 1986 Introduction,  Rational Choice. New York University Press. pp. 1-32.

Marx, Karl, Economico-Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. (extract)

Weber, Max, 1958  The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. T. Parsons, trans., New York: Scribner. (extract)

 

Feb 7 –

Feb 14

 

Critiques of Neoclassical Economics

Heilbronner, R. 1998 Economics by the Book. The Nation, October 20, 16-20.

McCloskey, Donald 1985  The Rhetoric of Economics. University of Wisconsin Press. Chapters 1 and 2, "The Poverty of Economic Modernism" and "From Methodology to Rhetoric."

Sen, Amatya 1978 Rational Fools: A Critique of the Behavioral Foundations of Economic Theory. In H. Harris, Scientific Models and Men. Oxford.

Optional:

Jha, Sumitra 2004 Cultured economic theory: oxymoron or incipient reality? Online.

Chibnik, M. 2004 Review of Experimental Economics. Online.

Feb 16 –

Feb 28

Markets and Cultural Economics  

All of Geertz (Undergrads)

All of Oxfeld (Grads)

Hodges, Richard  1988  Primitive and Peasant Markets. Basil Blackwell: London. pp. 1-33

Fanselow, F. 1990 The Bazaar Economy. Man 25:250-265.

Carrier, J., 1997 Introduction, in Meanings of the Market : The Free Market in Western Culture. Berg: Oxford. pp. 1-68

 

March 2

MIDTERM EXAM

 

March 7 –

March 30

Gift-Giving and Exchange

All of Mauss (Undergrads)

All of Mauss and all of Weiner (Grads)

Hyde, Lewis  1982  The Gift Must Always Move. CoevolutionQuarterly Fall 1982:10-30.

Werner, C. and D. Bell, 2004 Values and Valuables: From the Sacred to the Symbolic (extracts)

 

April 4 –

April 13

Does Culture Matter?

All of DeSoto (undergrads)

All of Harrison and Huntington (grads)

Lakoff, George 1996 Moral Politics. University of Chicago Press.  Chapters 3 and 4. pp. 41-64

Polanyi, K. 1957  The Economy as Instituted Process. in K. Polanyi, C. Arensberg and H. Pearson, eds., Trade and Market in the Early Empires. New York: Free Press.

Storr, V.  2004 Weber’s Spirit of Capitalism and the Bahamas’ Junkanoo Ethic. Online.

Optional:

Wrong, M. 2000 In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz. London: 4th Estate. pp.35-57.

 

April 18-

April 25

Globalization and Commodity Chains

All of Barndt

Wolf, Eric  1982  Europe and the People Without History. University of California Press. pages 3-23 (chapter 1), pages 73-100 (chapter 3)

Korten, David  1998  When Corporations Rule the World: An Interview with David Korten. In Corporations are Going to Get Your Mama, edited by Kevin Danaher. Common Courage Press. pp. 49-56.

April 27 and

Final Exam Meeting

Research Paper Presentations