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The economists and the primitive societies

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  • Marchionatti, Roberto

Abstract

The extension of economics to topics that lie outside its classical domain is known as ‘economic imperialism’. But there are territories of social science that persist to be largely intractable using the postulates of economic theory: the anthropological subject of primitive societies represents one such territory. This paper describes and discusses the representation of primitive societies by economists from the proto-imperialist model of Smith to the imperialist Posner's model. It maintains that (a) the economists’ attempt at interpretation is highly unsatisfactory and (b) it is possible to offer a different representation of the primitive societies, one more coherent with the anthropological and ethnographical data, and able to show the inadequacy and insubstantiality of many economic categories when applied to those societies.

Suggested Citation

  • Marchionatti, Roberto, 2012. "The economists and the primitive societies," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 529-540.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:41:y:2012:i:5:p:529-540
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2012.04.021
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    Cited by:

    1. Mario A. Cedrini & Roberto Marchionatti, 2017. "On the Theoretical and Practical Relevance of the Concept of Gift to the Development of a Non-imperialist Economics," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(4), pages 633-649, December.
    2. Mehmet Şükrü NAR, 2019. "Arkaik Toplumlardan Günümüze Değiş-Tokuş Ekonomisi ve Örnek Ülke Uygulamaları," Journal of Economy Culture and Society, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 60(1), pages 207-225, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Primitive societies; Economics and anthropology; Critique of economic imperialism; Rationality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • B2 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925
    • B3 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals
    • B4 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology
    • P4 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Other Economic Systems

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