Suchergebnisse

The idea of a moral economy has been explored and assessed in numerous disciplines. The anthropological studies in this volume provide a new perspective to this idea by showing how the relations of workers, employees and employers, and of firms, families and households are interwoven with local notions of moralities. From concepts of individual autonomy, kinship obligations, to ways of expressing mutuality or creativity, moral values exert an unrealized influence, and these often produce more consent than resistance or outrage.

Abstract: This paper investigates rose and rose oil production in the province of Isparta with reference to the discourses on and procedures of price formation. Farmers have been engaging in rose cultivation for over a century and rose oil production is considered to be a traditional industry. The market actors for rose oil are global functioning cosmetic firms and almost all rose oil from Isparta is exported. Prices and production have been steadily increasing in the last seven years. Although prices are seen as good, there are concerns about over-production and harsh competition between the rose oil firms for buying the harvest, hence pushing up rose prices and, leading to a crash of rose oil prices on the world market. Through careful observation of payment and price formation procedures, the paper raises issues concerning the moral economy of price formation. Findings are provisional and the research is on-going, but the discourse on prices clearly suggests that value judgements are embedded in capitalist markets rather than being simply or primarily anti-market.

The idea of a moral economy has been explored and assessed in numerous disciplines. The anthropological studies in this volume provide a new perspective to this idea by showing how the relations of workers, employees and employers, and of firms, families and households are interwoven with local notions of moralities. From concepts of individual autonomy, kinship obligations, to ways of expressing mutuality or creativity, moral values exert an unrealized influence, and these often produce more consent than resistance or outrage

Abstract: The high levels of endogamy characteristic of the circum-Mediterranean area have long been a puzzle for anthropological theory. Several theorists – notably Tillion, Pitt-Rivers, and Goody – have sought the explanation in the deep historical processes that gave rise to plough agriculture and the eventual rise of bronze age states. Despite their differences, these authors agree that endogamy was a consequence of this historic transformation. We argue instead that local kinship endogamy was a cause. The argument is supported by a critical assessment of Goody's analysis in Production and Reproduction, followed by a review of ethnographic case studies which suggest an alternative approach. We present an account of spatio-historical processes that can be used to support this kind of back-projection of limited present-day evidence. Finally, we note a contrast between the systems of age- and gender-relations in different parts of the Mediterranean area – and argue that our overall analysis can help to explain this contrast and the ways in which both Mediterranean systems differ from those in sub-Saharan Africa.