Unit A Week 4

Lecture summary

In archaic societies the household was the private realm of economics and the public space was the realm of politics and spiritualism. The household was where work was done which sustained life. The household created the enduring objects among and through which people lived.

Giving was the most significant economic activity of pre-market societies. Early peoples didn't have what later emerged as barter, trade, or commerce. A gift form of exchange predates trade in a market economy where money circulates and there is a notion of price. The major transfer of goods was as gifts through back and forth cycles of obligation and reciprocity. Each gift in this pre-market system was connected to a cultural, spiritual, and social belief system.

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