Consumption and Exchange

By:
Andrew John B. Fernandez

Areas in Economic Anthropology

Modes of Consumption
The predominant patterns with a
culture of using up goods and services.
The dominant pattern of using things
up or spending resources to satisfy
demand, correspond generally with the
modes or production continuum.

 Modes of Exchange
The predominant patterns within a
culture of transferring goods, services,
and other items between and among
people and groups.

 Cultural anthropologist are interested in all

economic systems, not just market economies,
but also to include noncash forms of income
or expenditure.
In nonmarket economies, instead of spending
cash, people spend time, labor, or trade
goods in order to provide for their needs.
People in non-monetized context spend
time or labor, not cash.

The Difference between Process of

Consumption and Exchange
Non Market Systems

Market Systems

Many consumption needs are satisfied

without any exchange or only to a limited
degree.

Most consumption items are not selfproduced and must be purchased.

Few good are obtained through exchange

Most or all the goods are obtained

through exchange

Money plays a less important role, and

time, labor, and goods are prominent
exchange items.

Money is a key item of exchange

Modes of Consumption
What is Consumption?
Consumption has two senses:
1. It is persons intake in terms of eating or
other ways of using things;
2. It is a persons output in terms of spending
or using resources. It includes consumption
of eating habits and household budgeting
practices.

Two Contrasting Modes of

Consumption
Minimalism
A mode of consumption that emphasizes
simplicity and is characterized by few and finite
(limited) consumer demands and an adequate and
sustainable means to achieve them.

Consumerism
Peoples demands are many and infinite, and the
means of satisfying them are therefore insufficient
and become depleted in the effort to meet
demands.

Contrasting Modes of Consumption

FORAGING

Modes of
Consumption

Minimalism
Finite Needs

Social
Organization
of
Consumption

Equality / Sharing
Personalized products
are consumed

Primary
Budgetary
Fund

Basic needs

Mode of
Exchange

Balanced Exchange

Social
Organization
of Exchange

Small groups, face to

face

Primary
Category of
Exchange

The gift

HORTICULTURE

PASTORALISM

AGRICULTURE

At the opposite ends of the

continuum, two contrasting
modes of consumption exist,
defined in terms of the
relationship between demand
(what people want) and supply
(the resources available to
satisfy demand).
The social organization of
consumption also change as
one
moves
across
the
continuum.
in between these two
extremes are blended patterns,
with a decreasing trend toward
minimalism and an increasing
trend toward consumerism as
one moves from left to right.
Changes in the mode of
production
influence
the
transformation
in
consumption.

INDUSTRIALISM
(CAPITALISM)

Consumerism
Infinite needs
Class Based
Inequality
Depersonalized
products are consume
Rent/taxes, luxuries

Market exchange
Anonymous market
transactions

The sale

Consumption Funds
Consumption Fund is a category of a persons
or household budget used to provide for their
demands.
The amount of the budget will vary according
to the mode of production and the amount of
surplus goods available in the society.

 In a minimalist foragers budget:

Basic Needs Fund = the largest share of
expenditures goes into the, which includes food,
beverages, shelter, fuel, clothing, and the tools
needed to obtain these items.
The Recurrent Costs Fund, which supports repair
and maintenance of tools and baskets, weapons,
and shelter.
Entertainment Fund, the personal leisure,
Ceremonial Fund, for public events beyond the
immediate group such as potlach.

 Budget in Consumerist Cultures

The budge size is larger.
They work longer hours and spend more time and
labor.
They have cash budgets that may be substantial,
depending on class position.
Tax Fund
Entertainment fund.

Consumption Inequalities
Theory of Entitlements
which are socially defined rights to life-sustaining
resources.
The concept of entitlements helps us understand
how social inequality works and can change.
Some kinds of entitlements are more secure and
more lucrative than others, and thus they provide
more secure and luxurious levels of consumption.

Two types of Entitlement

Direct Entitlement
The most secure form of entitlement

Indirect Entitlement
Ways of gaining subsistence that depend on
exchanging something in order to obtain
consumer needs.
Entail dependency on other people on other
people and institutions and are thus riskier bases
of support than direct entitlements

Three Levels of Entitlement

The Global Level
The National Level
The Household Level

Consumption Microcultures
Class
Differences are defined in terms of levels of
income and wealth, are reflected in class-specific
consumption patterns.
The upper class people spend more on
consumption than the poor. The poor, however,
spend higher percentage of their total income on
consumption, especially on basic needs such as
food, clothing, and shelter.

 Gender
Consumption patterns are often gender-marked.
Specific food may be thought to be male or
female foods.

Race/Ethnicity
Explicit racial inequalities in consumption.

Age

 Age
Age categories often have characteristics
consumption patterns that are culturally shaped.
In many cultures the every old fall into a category
with declining entitlements and declining quality
of consumption.
Aging affects everyone, regardless of class level,
but wealth can protect the elderly from certain
kinds of marginalization and deprivation.

What is Exchanged?
Exchange is the transfer of something that
may be material or non material between at
least two persons, groups, or institutions.
Items exchanged may be purely utilitarian or
they may carry meanings and have a history,
or social life, of their own.
In the industrialized society, money is a key
item of exchange.

 In all economic systems, individuals and

groups exchange goods and services with
others, so exchange is a cultural universal.
Non monetary exchange exists in
contemporary industrial societies.
Ex: hosting dinner parties, exchanging gifts, or
sharing cheese curls.

 Material Goods
Food is one of the most common exchange good
in everyday life and on ritual occasions.
Functional theorists would view this system of
exchange as contributing to social cohesion.

Symbolic Goods
Intangible valuables such as myths and rituals are
sometimes exchanged in ways similar to material
goods.
A sense of linked community and mutual
responsibility thereby develops.

 Labor
People contribute labor to other people on a
regular basis or on an irregular basis.
Labor-sharing groups are part of what has been
called moral economy because no one keeps
formal records on how much any family puts in or
takes out.

 Money
The term money refers to things that can be
exchanged for many different kind of items.
Beside being a medium of exchange, money can
be a standard of value and a store of value or
wealth.
It can be found in such diverse forms as shells,
salt, cattle, furs, cocoa beans, and iron hoes.

Two Kinds of Money

Limited Purpose Money
Items that can be exchanged for only a few other
items.

Multi Purpose Money

A modern money or a medium of exchange that
can be used for all goods and services available.
Modern money is distinguished by its portability,
divisibility, uniformity, and recognizability.

 All kinds of money are symbolic they have

meaning to the user, and they are associated with
the users identity and sense of self.

People
Throughout history, some people have been able
to gain control of other people and treat them as
objects of exchange, as systems of
institutionalized slavery and in underground,
criminal activities.

Mode of Exchange
Balanced Exchange
Unbalanced Exchange

Balanced Exchange
A system of transfer in which the goal is either
immediate or eventual balance in value.
Contains two subcategories based on the social
relationship based on the social relationship of the
two parties involved in the exchange and the degree
to which a return is expected.

 Generalized Reciprocity
A transaction that involves the least conscious
sense of interest in material gain or thought of
what might be received in return.
The predominant form of exchange between
people who know each other well and trust each
other.

 The Pure Gift

Something is given with no expectation or thought
of a return.
An extreme form of generalized reciprocity.

 Expected reciprocity
The exchange of approximately equally valued
goods or services, usually between people of
roughly equal status.
The exchange may occur simultaneously from
both parties, or an agreement or understanding
may exist that stipulates the time period within
which the exchange will be completed.
If the other party fails to complete the exchange,
the relationship will break down.

 Redistribution
a form or exchange that involves one person
collecting goods or money from many members of
a group.
Redistribution involves some centricity. It
contains the possibility of institutionalized
inequality because what is returned may not
always equal what was contributed by each
individual.

Unbalance Exchange
A system of transfers in which one party
attempts to make a profit.
A people involved may not be related to or
know each other.

 Market Exchange
The buying and selling of commodities under
competitive conditions in which the forces of
supply and demand determine value.

People involved many not be social equals, and

their exchange is not likely to generate social
bonding.

 Periodic Market
a site for market transactions that is not
permanently set up but occurs regularly, emerged
with the development of agriculture and urban
settlements.
More than just a place for buying and selling, it is
also a place of social activity.

Permanent Market
Situated in fixed locations have long served the
everyday needs of villages and neighborhoods.
Have long provided for the everyday needs of local
people.

Other Forms of Unbalanced Exchange

Gambling
Theft
Exploitation

Theories of Exchange
Reasons on people participate in patterned
process of exchange:
1. a functional view that sees exchange as
creating social and economic safety nets for
people,
2. a critical theory that points to how patterns
of exchange create and sustain social
inequality.