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Re: [ox-en] Re: [ox-en] Re: [ox-en] built-in infinite growth (was: Re: Meaning ofmarkets, scarcity, abundance)



Dmytri Kleiner wrote:


Hi Gregers, my impression from Mauss, etc, is that Potlatch created a cycle
of reciprocal ritualized gift exchange in which each cycle required more
production than
the previous.



The original form of potlatch did probably take the shape of 'chiefs'
(villages) combining a kind of ritual status display with
re-distribution of resources - through the process of giving away ritual
objects, food articles etc. The original cycle of exchange was probably
rather stable, and primarily aimed at the reproduction of society and
relations.
The later (and final) forms became obscene, and involved the display and
destruction (burning) of especially western artefacts such as blankets,
copper plates etc. The ethnographic material, as such, does not really
state that there was an increase in production just that all production
was destroyed, leaving people with nothing (or, the western fur-traders
and blanket-sellers with all of it)....

In both cases there is a lack of accumulation of capital (or similars,
which then would need to be converted into a more "storable" form =
money) in the hands of individuals, resources are either re-distributed
across the tribe as a whole or destroyed ...





Do you disagree with the claim that money originates in tribute and
prestige exchange and not exchange among
direct-producers?



The devil is in the detail - and I just stated that you should not use
'kula' as an example of 'money' (because it simply undermines your
argument). I'm in doubt about your claim that money originates in
tribute and prestige exchange, though it would tie well into the
emergence of the state structure as form of social organization ...



-- 
Gregers Petersen
Anthropologist, Ph.d fellow
Department of Organization
Copenhagen Business School
Kilen, Kilevej 14A, 4.
DK - 2000 Frederiksberg
gp.ioa cbs.dk
(+45) 3815 2811
Skype: gregers.ioa
Jabber: glp jabber.dk
IRC: Look for 'glp'
www.cbs.dk/staff/gp
www.icco.dk


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