Barter, Exchange and Value: An Anthropological Approach
by Caroline Humphrey
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Description
This book concerns barter, a transaction in which objects are exchanged directly for one another without the use of money. Economists treat barter as an inefficient alternative to market exchange, and assume that it is normal only in 'primitive' economies or marks the breakdown of more developed exchange mechanisms. For their part, anthropologists have been more interested in the social and moral complexities of the 'gift', and treat barter dismissively as mere haggling. The authors of this show more collection do not accept that barter occupies a residual space between monetary and gift economies. Using accounts from different parts of the world, they aim to demonstrate that it is more than a simple and self-evident economic institution. Barter may constitute a mode of exchange with its own social characteristics occupying a specific moral space. This novel treatment of barter represents an original and topical addition to the literature on economic anthropology. show lessTags
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Caroline Humphrey is professor emerita and director of the Mongolian and Inner Asia Studies Unit at the University of Cambridge. She is the author or coauthor of twenty previous books, most recently Urban Life in Post-Soviet Central Asia. Hrelbaatar Ujeed founded the Hrelbaatar Institute for Mongolian Studies at the Inner Mongolia Normal show more University and is senior research associate in the Mongolian and Inner Asia Studies Unit at the University of Cambridge. show less
Classifications
- Genre
- Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 306.3 — Society, government, & culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Social Behavior - Dating, Marriage, Divorce Economic institutions
- LCC
- GN450.4 .B37 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Anthropology Anthropology Ethnology. Social and cultural anthropology Cultural traits, customs, and institutions Economic organization. Economic anthropology
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 13
- Popularity
- 1,775,406
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
