Economic Systems Presentation

By: Jaskaran, Sach, Zak H. and Daniel

Economic System

Economic System: the production, distribution and consumption of goods

Each distinct culture has an economic system 3 types of Economic Systems: -1. Consumption(capitalism) -2. Redistribution (socialism) -3. Exchange (gift giving) Understanding economies of other cultures are hard due to

ethnocentric assertions No realization that these cultures’ peoples wants, are

maintained at a level that does not affect the environment Goods are produced in quantity and time required (viewed as

lazy by Western society)

Non-economic

Variable

To understand how the schedule of wants of society balances with supply of goods on hand, one must understand the noneconomic variable.

Economic processes cannot be understood without culturally defining demands and conventions dictating how they are satisfied

Economic sphere of behavior linked with social, religious, environmental and political sphere

Example:

TheTrobrianders

Men raise yams because he gives it to his daughter or sister to enhance his own influence

By giving these yams he not only expresses his confidence in the women’s husband but the latter is indebted to him

Yam exchange are as much social and political transaction as economic transactions

Small Scale Cultures

Small scale cultures do not operate in isolation

Small scale economic systems coexist within larger economic sphere

May come to conflict at times

Resources and

Patterns of Labour

In every culture, rules govern the kinds of work done, who does the work, who controls the resources and tools and how the work is accomplished.

Rules allow for a culture’s economy to run efficiently.

The division of labour is an unwritten rule but it is accepted by cultures as it allows for the most amount of efficiency within the culture’s economy.

It is divided based on sex and age.

Dividing based on sex increases the chances that learning the necessary skills will be more efficient.

Dividing labour based on age provides sufficient time for developing those skills.

Sexual Division of

Labour

In general “women’s work” tends to be around the home (gathering food, taking care of children)

The tasks most often regarded as “men’s work” tends to require physical strength (hunting, travelling away from home, dealing with danger)

However there are many exceptions

Researchers have found that there are three ways of dividing the sexual division of labour. One featuring flexibility and sexual integration, another involving rigid segregation by sex and a third combining elements of the other two.

Examples of Sexual

Divisions

The Ju/’hoansi show the flexibility and

integration method as both sexes perform 35 percent of activities with approximately equal participation, while the other 30 percent is assigned equally to men and women for their respective specialties. This allows for maximum efficiency within the economical structure and is shown through food forager and subsistence farmers.

Example 1.

Sexually segregated cultures rigidly define

almost all work as either masculine of feminine, so men and women rarely engage in joint efforts of any kind. Shown through the pastoral nomadic, intensive agriculture and industrial societies.

Example 2.

This combination is shown through most First

Nations peoples. This is because even though they had assigned tasks there relationship had balance rather than an inequality.

Example 3.

Age Division of

Labour

- Generally children are required to learn from their parents in order to develop small skills that will help them in the future.

- Seniors are usually the ones that guide the middle aged men and women. Through there wisdom they help the cultures economy.

- Middle aged men and women around the ages of (15 – 50) are required to provide for the culture. They are the main sources for economic survival.

Cooperation

Cooperative work groups are found in all sorts of living arrangements and cultures, from the industrialized to the unindustrialized.

Usually there is a festive spirit that permeates collective efforts.

This also deters large game from attacking them.

In most societies the Home is the most basic cooperative unit

Industrialized cities are the only ones where the production and consumption nature of the home have been separated, in most other countries the home as a source of subsistence is still maintained(like family farms).

Craft

Specialization

In unindustrialized countries all members of the collective have knowledge of all the tasks appropriate to their age and sex.

There is some specialization even in unindustrialized countries though, such as among food foragers like the first nations specialization of traditional craft and its subsequent trading is booming.

In food producing unindustrialized nations and cultures, like the Trobianders, we see specialization as well.

In Industrialized areas we see specialization, and it is nowhere near conceivable for an individual to learn all aspects of the different areas of work.

Control of Land

We see land regulations among all of the worlds cultures, and regulation where resources are put.

Food foragers decide who can hunt/forage and where the collected resources go.

Horticulturalists make decisions on their farmland.

Pastoralists have a system of deciding who has rights to a watering area and grazing pastures.

In industrialized societies we have land ownership rights and in Unindustrialized societies land is generally passed down through family lineage.

Technology

All societies have some mean of creating and allocating the tools/artifacts used for goods production

Amount/Type of tools used depend on the lifestyle of the group and its members

Ex. Food Foragers/Pastoral Nomads have fewer and less complex tool sets, and can trade said sets for their reapings (Ju/’hoansi “Arrow Method”)

Sedentary farming communities’ tools/productive goods are more complex, thus there is more absolute ownership over them

Resource Depletion

Can lead to social and economic implications within a society

Ex. Eco. Crisis facing worldwide fisheries and future of groups who require fish to survive (First Nations, New Foundland fishing co.’s)

Marine Transhumance used by immigrants, lead to small boating operations and has continued to evolve, as to adapt to the situation

Leads to fishing companies competing with Aboriginal fishers, outside fisheries encroaching on protected areas, and environmental threats.

Illustrates how a society with a certain way of life, can be put in danger when lacking its essential resources

The End