Plain-language explanation.
Economic anthropology studies how different societies produce, distribute, and consume goods and services — and how economic life is embedded in social relationships, culture, and power. It challenges the assumption that all human beings are self-interested, rational economic actors by showing the enormous diversity of economic systems across cultures.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Classic economic anthropology: Malinowski's Kula ring (Trobriand Islands — ritual exchange of shell valuables cementing alliance networks; gift exchange as social obligation and identity); Marcel Mauss's The Gift (reciprocity as the foundation of social life — the three obligations: to give, to receive, and to reciprocate; hau as the spirit of the gift); Boas's potlatch (Pacific Northwest Coast — competitive feasting and gift-giving that simultaneously destroyed wealth and accumulated prestige). Formalism vs. substantivism debate: do formal economic models apply universally (Firth, Schneider) or is the economy always "embedded" in social relations (Polanyi — market exchange, redistribution, and reciprocity as three economic integration principles)?
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Moral economy (E.P. Thompson, Scott: subsistence ethics, community norms about fair exchange and just prices — peasant rebellions as resistance to market encroachment on moral economic norms). Anthropology of money: Zelizer's social meaning of money — money is not fungible; people earmark money for different social purposes (money as morally loaded, earmarked, and relationally meaningful). Informal economies: household economy, care economy, barter, and illegal markets as forms of economic life systematically excluded from formal economic measurement. Value theory: from classical labour theory of value through marginal utility to Graeber's anthropological value theory (actions creating social value — value as the meaning of human action).
How it is applied in practice.
Economic anthropology in contemporary professional contexts: development economics increasingly incorporates anthropological insights (Escobar's critique of development; post-development theory; Participatory Rural Appraisal). Corporate gift-giving and hospitality in cross-cultural business contexts — where gift exchange norms intersect with anti-bribery and corruption law (UK Bribery Act, FCPA). Financial anthropology (Maurer, LiPuma and Lee): derivatives, hedge funds, and global finance as cultural phenomena with specific rituals, beliefs, and shared assumptions. Sharing economy platforms (Airbnb, Uber, TaskRabbit) and the anthropology of platform-mediated exchange — trust, reputation, and the commodification of social relations.