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Discussion Leader Assignment: Economics

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Discussion Leader Assignment: Economics A subdiscipline of anthropology, economic anthropology is concerned with how people make, share, and buy goods and services by studying how people make decisions about how to earn a living, what they do when they work, and the social institutions around these aspects. Through analyzing these relationships economic anthropologists attempt to discern what is value. Often times Westerners associate the idea of money as the measure of all things and the price an object hold reflects its value. However, value, or the worth of something, is a variation amongst and between cultures. Culture shapes the character of any economic transaction so it is important to understand the diversity of economic systems …show more content…

In Neoclassical economies, workers cooperate to divide labor and exchange goods and services in a market setting. From this system, value and wealth are created by competition between buyers and sellers. In Substantivism, the economy is rooted in social institutions such as the state, religion, and kinship relationships where people engage in transactions to get what they want. From this, value is relative, created by particular cultures and social institutions. In Marxism, people participate in capitalism by selling their labor and this private ownership of means of production results in wealth for a few and inequality for the masses. From this system, labor is a major source of value. Finally, in cultural economics, the economy is a category of culture and economic acts are guided by local beliefs and cultural models tying in to a community’s values. From this, value is created by symbolic associations people make between an activity, good or service and its community’s moral …show more content…

Although coolness is hard to define, it is developed by marketing and advertisement. In an article from the Atlantic, they attempt to study the concept of coolness scientifically by defining it as “a subjective, positive trait perceived in people, brands, products, and trends that are autonomous in an appropriate way.” This article suggests that people advertise to create desired things outside of social norms to make them feel impressive or superior to other people. Anthropologists also look at consumption to build cultural meaning, social relationships, and identities beginning with appropriation of the

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She discusses how there is a need for a new demographic of shoppers, and marketers are turning to the youth demographic. Klein uses “cool” to describe what is currently popular, or how Walker would describe salience. “Cool Hunters” study what the youth demographic considers cool to create a market. She explains how most teenagers are constantly wondering if they are cool or not. Klein focuses on how brands stick to the consumer’s mind.

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