Economic Anthropology

elective courses
general courses

The course is intended to familiarise the students of cultural sciences with the issues at the intersection of anthropology and economics, providing them with a grasp of the basic phenomena related to exchange, money, market, captalism, valuation, work and credit. Chosen phenomena will be analysed through the anthropology toolbox.

Remote learning

A cultural-science perspective allows for an insight into economy as a science based on certain philosophical assumptions, and enables the understanding of economy not as a homogeneous, universalist entity, ruled by immutable laws, but as a cultural construct – malleable and subject to change throughout time and space. From the perspective of economical anthropology, economic behaviours are regarded as de facto cultural behaviours, embedded in the moral beliefs characteristic to particular social groups. The in-class dispute will rely on readings of not strictly economical character, but ones from the fields of anthropology and socioeconomics, as well as fiction.

The anthropological reflection on economy is of exceptional importance at the time when debates are expanding on the efficiency of the current economic system in the face of the ecological disaster, recurring financial crises, unprecedented monetary phenomena (such as negative interest rates) as well as completely new phenomena, related to the technological development in the financial sector. Further to the above, economy has now become a branch of social sciences that is greatly susceptible to ideological strife, which may often result in its basic terms and categories becoming vague in meaning, as they are put to use as labels for the purposes of a given political narrative. As a consequence, the public debate becomes imbued with overly simplified concepts and the tendency to ignore any deeper reflection on the complexity of socioeconomic phenomena. Economic anthropology, as a subdiscipline of the athropology of culture, presents a chance to recognise and appreciate the cultural dimension of economic behaviours and their implication in the various contexts of the moral, social, religious, psychological and political nature.

Full Description:

The classes will be structured around the following themes:

1. GIFT CULTURE

a. The basic categories of gift culture

b. Humanitarian aid. A culture of gift or a form of neocolonialism?

2. MONEY

a. Money in modern times. The processes of commodification (commodity fetishism) and the creation of new types of communities in the face of globalisation

3. MARKET

a. The free market in the economy essays by Zbigniew Herbert

b. The social processes of price determination

c. Centrally planned economy

4. CAPITALISM

a. Capitalism as a cultural formation

b. Neoliberal newspeak

5. CREDIT

a. Credit as a cultural entity to organise the everyday practice and moral life of the recipients

b. MS Excel and gender in personal budgets

6. WORK

a. The class issues of economic life

b. Precarisation and uberization of work; the expansion of Gig Economy

7. FUTURE ECONOMIES

a. Facing the ecodisaster: green capitalism or anticapitalism?

Literature:

Specified excerpts from the works below will be presented during the classes.

1. Banerjee, A., Duflo, E., Poor Economics. A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, New York, 2011.

2. Bihr, A., Nowomowa neoliberalna (translated by Łukomska, A.), Warsaw, 2008.

3. Bińczyk, E., Epoka człowieka. Retoryka i marazm antropocenu, Warsaw, 2018.

4. Boltanski, L., Chiapello, È., Nowy duch kapitalizmu, ‘Kronos’, Issue 2/2015.

5. Bourdieu, P., Dystynkcja. Społeczna krytyka władzy sądzenia (translated by Biłos, P.), Warsaw, 2005.

6. Friedman, S., Laurison, D., The Class Ceiling, Bristol, 2019.

7. Graeber, D., Dług. Pierwsze pięć tysięcy lat (translated by Kuźniarz, B.), Warsaw, 2018.

8. Graeber, D., Praca bez sensu. Teoria (translated by Denderski, M.) Warsaw, 2019.

9. Halawa, M., Kategorie moralne w społecznym życiu kredytów frankowych w Polsce. Wstępne rozpoznania z badań etnograficznych, ‘Prakseologia’, Issue 159/2017.

10. Herbert, Z., Martwa natura z wędzidłem, Wrocław, 1993.

11. Kornai, J., Niedobór w gospodarce (translated by Grzelońska, U., Wiankowska, Z.), Warsaw, 1985.

12. Marks, K., Engels, F., Manifest komunistyczny (translated by Karolczuk, E.), Warsaw, 2009.

13. Mauss, M. Szkic o darze, in: id., Socjologia i antropologia (translated by Pomian, K.), Warsaw, 1973.

14. Mazzucato, M., Przedsiębiorcze państwo: obalić mit o relacji sektora publicznego i prywatnego, (translated by Bednarek, J.), Poznań, 2016.

15. Olcoń-Kubicka, M., Halawa, M., Making a living: how middle-class couples in Warsaw start and practice household, ‘Kultura i społeczeństwo’, Issue 4/2018.

16. Pobłocki, K., Kapitalizm. Historia krótkiego trwania, Warsaw, 2017.

17. Majmurek, J., Szumlewicz, P. (Eds.), PRL bez uprzedzeń,, Warsaw, 2010.

18. Simmel, G., Filozofia pieniądza (translated by Przyłębski, A.), Poznań, 1997.

19. Standing, G., Prekariat. Nowa niebezpieczna klasa (translated by Kaczmarski, P., Karolak, M., Czarnecki, K.), Warsaw, 2014.

Supporting Literature (intended for the students’ presentations throughout the course):

1. Crary, J., Późny kapitalizm i koniec snu, Krakow, 2015.

2. Eribon, D., Powrót do Reims, Krakow, 2019.

3. Kahneman, D., Tverski, A., Pułapki myślenia. O myśleniu szybkim i wolnym, Poznań, 2012.

4. Polanyi, K., Wielka transformacja. Polityczne i ekonomiczne źródła naszych czasów, translated by Zawadzka, M.), Warsaw, 2010.

5. Sandel, M., Czego nie można kupić za pieniądze (translated by Chromik, A., Sikora, T.), Warsaw, 2016.

6. Sennett, R., Kultura nowego kapitalizmu, Warsaw, 2010.

7. Springer, F., 13 pięter, Wołowiec, 2015.

8. Szahaj, A., Kapitalizm drobnego druku, Warsaw, 2014.

9. Szarecki, A., Kapitalizm somatyczny. Ciało i władza w kulturze korporacyjnej, Warsaw, 2017.

Learning outcomes:

Having completed the course, the student will be able to:

- apply anthropological tools to the analysis of socioeconomic phenomena;

- indicate the cultural, philosophical, moral and ideological conditioning of the various concepts of economy;

- participate in the public debate in a reflective manner on the issues of the functioning of economy and its influence on culture and social behaviours.

Attendance and active participation in the discussions during the classes is essential for a pass. Students interested in a grade above B (4) are required to write an approx. 5-page (1500 words) paper on a topic of their choice (to be consulted in advance over e-mail or in person), or to deliver an approx. 15-minute presentation on an excerpt of one of the books selected from the Supporting Literature list.

Two absences are allowed. Any further absence will require a meeting during the duty hours to discuss the overdue literature. Six absences result in a fail to pass. Should the classes be moved to an online teaching platform, video conference participation will be required to pass, at the times corresponding to the times of the classes.