Economy is an important aspect of culture. Different society has different view and perception on economics such as consumption and object value. The hunting-gathering society is perceived to be traditional and poor. A research done by Sahlins (1972) shows that Hunting-gathering society is actually content with what they have and Gusinde (as cited by Riza Wahyuna, 17 January 2015) remarked that they consider tangible objects to be a burden. However, to modern societies, tangible objects are considered as commodities and a sign of leisure. Even then people are still not content with what they have, they have an inclination for a greater amount of possessions, because modern society’s material wants are fluid, they change constantly either due
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This means that pre-capitalist societies such as the hunting-gathering society has no market both; value in use and value in exchange and that the economy lies on ‘reciprocity’, ‘redistribution’ and ‘householding’. Unlike ‘goods’ theory the value of wealth depends on the utility and the value in exchange depends on scarcity. From the Stone Age Economics by Sahlins, reciprocity is categorized into three, Generalised, Balanced and Negative. Generalised reciprocity refers to the transfer or exchange between the closest kinship establishing in a bond or reinforce alliances. An example brought forward is the Potlatch among Indian cultures of Northwest Coast Region of North America. O’Neil (2008) brought forward this example, where Potlatch is a complex celebration where hosts achieved higher social status by destroying and disposing wealth to gain a higher social status amongst other leading tribal men. The host does not expect anything in return, rather offers the destruction of his wealth as a gift to show generosity, and further strengthen social bonds. Secondly, Balanced reciprocity a form exchange that can take place outside of kinship, and the giver expects an immediate return of goods. There is an important link …show more content…
They only focus on satisfying their needs for survival- food, simple shelter and simple tools. Tribal’ societies (hunting gathering) perceived goods as a form of social status obtained during gift giving as a means of generosity. Whereas in modern consumer society, people are more selfish in fulfilling their desires in satisfying their needs and their unlimited wants in the new open market system. This is mainly driven by modern consumer culture where having unlimited wants are seen as natural and goods are seen as a commodity or a symbol of ‘riches’ that is accumulated to satisfy their desires of prominence in consumer society. Ultimately, the type of economy for a society depends on the political structure of the society. (Gregory,
This means that pre-capitalist societies such as the hunting-gathering society has no market both; value in use and value in exchange and that the economy lies on ‘reciprocity’, ‘redistribution’ and ‘householding’. Unlike ‘goods’ theory the value of wealth depends on the utility and the value in exchange depends on scarcity. From the Stone Age Economics by Sahlins, reciprocity is categorized into three, Generalised, Balanced and Negative. Generalised reciprocity refers to the transfer or exchange between the closest kinship establishing in a bond or reinforce alliances. An example brought forward is the Potlatch among Indian cultures of Northwest Coast Region of North America. O’Neil (2008) brought forward this example, where Potlatch is a complex celebration where hosts achieved higher social status by destroying and disposing wealth to gain a higher social status amongst other leading tribal men. The host does not expect anything in return, rather offers the destruction of his wealth as a gift to show generosity, and further strengthen social bonds. Secondly, Balanced reciprocity a form exchange that can take place outside of kinship, and the giver expects an immediate return of goods. There is an important link …show more content…
They only focus on satisfying their needs for survival- food, simple shelter and simple tools. Tribal’ societies (hunting gathering) perceived goods as a form of social status obtained during gift giving as a means of generosity. Whereas in modern consumer society, people are more selfish in fulfilling their desires in satisfying their needs and their unlimited wants in the new open market system. This is mainly driven by modern consumer culture where having unlimited wants are seen as natural and goods are seen as a commodity or a symbol of ‘riches’ that is accumulated to satisfy their desires of prominence in consumer society. Ultimately, the type of economy for a society depends on the political structure of the society. (Gregory,