AN3220 Greed, Globalization & the Gift 6.0

Time: Thurs. 2:30- 5:30 ACE 007

Global capitalism at the millennium is triumphant: Or is it? Are alternate models of "Economic Man" redundant, or can Economic "science" be contested on its home turf, the "free" market? Can anthropology offer unique insights into "modern" economies: or are we limited to reflection on the "gift" or "moral" economies posited by traditional economic anthropology? This course has two main themes: first, it examines the nature of capitalist enterprise historically and ethnographically. It thus focuses upon the anthropology of capitalism and the capitalist firm, and the new multi-sited methods required to study a global economic system. We will examine the variety of forms of corporate capitalism (including the differences between agrarian and industrial capitalisms); the spread of capitalism and the "world system" through to the age of globalization; and the failure of neo-liberal development policies to deliver economic prosperity. Secondly, this course aims to provide undergraduates with the critical tools they require to analyze the pervading neoliberal economic culture within which most current government, media and business discourses are couched. The "battle in Seattle", the Zapatista revolt in Chiapas and other attacks on the World Trade Organization all point to the increasing interconnection of global capital flows, neoliberal economic restructuring, and global movements of resistance. We will thus examine these movements through the use of alternate models of economic behaviour, such as those provided by the Substantivists, Political Economy approaches, and the work of Bruno Latour and the Critical Accounting Theorists.