ANT378H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Ethnocentrism, Individualism, Fallacy
Document Summary
Lecture 1 introduction and in debt we trust. It is not form the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but form their regard to their own self-interest. If things were unlimited, it wouldn"t be: are these assumptions about human economic behaviour valid, obviously not: we live in a culture of extreme consumption where people spend irrationally when they can"t afford because they want. Buying cars without being able to afford the gas/insurance. Lots: critiques of rational choice theory, 1. Human behaviour functions within social, cultural, political, economic, institutional structures. Not free to just act as individuals, inherent parts of a whole. Structure emphasizes the limits due to systems in which we can act; agency emphasizes the individual"s capacity to act. It is impossible for individuals to act completely individually: 2. That all cultural groups will function the same way economically and therefore make the same decisions in the global market.
