Glossary

Economy of affection:

In traditional societies, each person and each household is a consumer as well as a producer. Social networks create mutual understanding to promote the survival of these social units in the face of scarcity; these social ties operate to prevent the economic actors in traditional societies from behaving to maximize personal profit. Traditional understandings arise as to the relative value of various goods and services; they are not independently re-negotiated for each transaction in an impersonal, anonymous market. These traditional understandings acquire the force of custom and, with increased social complexity, may eventually acquire the force of law.

"An economy in which a subsistence ethos guarantees at least minimal provisioning to all households." (Scott 1976)
"Its major benefit lies in its obvious capacity to minimize risk in an unpredictably varying natural and political environment." (Wiessner 1982)

Embeddedness:

In a social scientific understanding, the embeddedness of an actor or an action characterises its bind to its social environment.

Institutions:

Institutions are complexes of norms and behaviour patterns that persist over time by serving some collectively valued purposes. They are the mechanisms, rules and customs by which people and organisations interact with each other. In that sense they are the "rules of the game" of a society. However, in a number of domains, organisations are often referred to as "institutions".

Moral economy:

In traditional societies, each person and each household is a consumer as well as a producer. Social networks create mutual understanding to promote the survival of these social units in the face of scarcity; these social ties operate to prevent the economic actors in traditional societies from behaving to maximize personal profit. Traditional understandings arise as to the relative value of various goods and services; they are not independently re-negotiated for each transaction in an impersonal, anonymous market. These traditional understandings acquire the force of custom and, with increased social complexity, may eventually acquire the force of law.

"An economy in which a subsistence ethos guarantees at least minimal provisioning to all households." (Scott 1976)
"Its major benefit lies in its obvious capacity to minimize risk in an unpredictably varying natural and political environment." (Wiessner 1982)

Peasant societies:

1. Peasant societies' livelihoods are primarily - but not exclusively - derived from farming, normally consisting of a combination of crop-farming and livestock production

2. The household owns its own means of production, especially land, or at least has rights of access to land.

3. Agricultural production is based primarily - but not exclusively - on household labour.

4. Household activities are balanced between production and consumption, with inputs reflecting aspects of both production and consumption.

5. Production reflects varying levels of subsistence.

(Wiesmann 1998, p. 48/49)