SOSANT2300 – The Anthropology of Economic Life

In a world marked by economic inequalities, understanding the forces shaping economic life is crucial. This course offers insights into how cultural and social dynamics influence economic behaviour. By examining contemporary issues like inflation, labour exploitation, financial crises, trade wars, and the rise of cryptocurrencies, we explore how anthropological perspectives can provide alternative explanations to mainstream economic theories.

Key topics include the distinction between gifts and commodities, our complex relationship with money, and the moral underpinnings of markets. We will analyse issues that rational economic theory overlooks, from gift economies and the ethical basis of markets, to how markets emerged from state structures and how communities resist their encroachment. Through lectures and activities, students will engage with a variety of ethnographic examples that highlight the intersection of local practices and global dynamics, revealing the multifaceted nature of economies and the pervasive disparities that persist within them.

Specific topics studied in this regard include:

• Markets and social inequality
• Labour and consumption
• State management and creation of market economies
• The morality of financial markets
• Understanding the extent and limits of terms such as "capitalism" or "neoliberalism"

Knowledge

• A broad understanding of key anthropological approaches to the study of economics and the economy
• Knowledge of historical disciplinary approaches to the economy with a central focus on the application of these approaches to the problems of contemporary economic life
• Knowledge of regional variation in economic practice

Skills

• Ability to understand and explain how economic life is constituted through social, cultural and material practices
• Ability to identify and explain cultural variation in terms of the approach to the economy
• Ability to apply analytic key concepts, such as person, thing, money, market, gift and commodity, on empirical material
• Ability to formulate relevant approaches to economic life in different societies and locate relevant literature within and beyond political economy

General competence

• Understanding of and respect for scientific values such as openness, rationality, precision, accountability and the importance of distinguishing between facts and opinions
• Understanding of the development of relevant theoretical issues, and to locate and orient these in relevant literature, as well as the ability to convey anthropological insights in a professional manner in oral and written form

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Also see Grading guidelines in social anthropology.