Economic Systems Flashcards
Define and understand the elements of an economic system. Understand the social dimensions of distribution and consumption. Compare and contrast subsistence economies and consumer economies. Understand the distinction between generalized and balanced reciprocity. See how redistribution acts as a levelling mechanism in horticultural societies. See the difference between traditional and modern markets. Understand the functions of money.
Personalized consumption is characterized in anthropology by:
Knowing where products came from and who produced them.
The best example of personalized consumption in an urban, industrial city is:
a) a cooperative selling sporting equipment. b) a small family-owned grocery store. c) a farmers' market. d) a small "ethnic" restaurant. e) a coffee shop featuring fair-trade coffee.
c) a farmers’ market.
A recurrent cost fund is:
A resources (time, money, labour) that support repair and maintenance of tools, equipment, etc.
Which of the following is an example of direct entitlement?
a) a paycheque b) money earned selling food at a farmers’ market c) social assistance received from the state d) land owned by a small farmer producing potatoes for the winter months e) meals received at a "soup kitchen" in downtown Vancouver
d) land owned by a small farmer producing potatoes for the winter months
Pierre Bourdieu’s research into “tastes” demonstrated that:
Members of the lower class adopt aspects of upper class preferences to gain status.
Marvin Harris and other cultural materialists explain the existence of Jewish and Muslim taboos on eating pork by explaining that:
This taboo can be explained ecologically, but does have a social function in promoting social identity.
The incest taboo is the foundation for human social organization according to Claude Lévi-Strauss because:
The incest taboo forces men to develop exchange networks with other men.
Balanced exchange is:
An exchange of approximately equally valued goods or services, usually between people roughly equal in social status.
The best example of a system of expected reciprocity is:
Kula
Which of the following characterizes the changing patterns of consumption in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism?
a) nutrition improved with the fall of Communism as consumers had greater access to more and better quality food.
b) consumption of cholesterol-heavy products was virtually nonexistent prior to the fall of Communism.
c) incomes grew and consumption quality increased, all but eliminating the ultra-poor that characterized much of the Eastern European and Soviet populace.
d) rates of low-birth-weight babies and anemia have risen in many regions of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, indicating a deterioration in diet.
e) Overall calorie and protein intake increased across all social classes.
d) rates of low-birth-weight babies and anemia have risen in many regions of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, indicating a deterioration in diet.
The main forms of exchange in economic systems include:
Market, redistribution and reciprocity.
The main contribution of Marcel Mauss theory of exchange is that:
Many society rely on a gift economy.
As Karl Polanyi has shown:
The type of distribution that predominates in a society is linked to the means of production and the social organization of that society.
True or False
In any society, only material goods and people can be exchanged.
False
How discribe the Kula as a system of exchange.
Bronislaw Malinowski
