Economic Life in the Real World
Logic, Emotion and Ethics

Brings anthropology, psychology and economics together through real examples to explore economic life and the human experience.

Charles Stafford (Author)

9781108716550, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 January 2020

208 pages
22.7 x 15.2 x 1.2 cm, 0.32 kg

'This intriguing book focuses on the 'moral aspects of economic Agency' (ix) and seeks to 'bring anthropology, psychology and economics into some kind of conversation' (115) … Writing mostly to colleagues in the guild, Charles Stafford draws from diverse sources of inspiration and grounds his argument in a series of case studies from different parts of rural China and Taiwan, his long-standing field sites … Overall the book is a delight. Readers with even slightly open minds may be convinced, and the seriousness with which Stafford considers the arguments of his opponents, allies, and interlocutors is a model for us all.' American Ethnologist

This clearly written and engaging book brings together anthropology, psychology and economics to show how these three human science disciplines address fundamental questions related to the psychology of economic life in human societies - questions that matter for people from every society and every background. Based around vivid examples drawn from field research in China and Taiwan, the author encourages anthropologists to take the psychological dimensions of economic life more seriously, but also invites psychologists and economists to pay much more attention than they currently do to cultural and historical variables. In the end, this intrinsically radical book challenges us to step away from disciplinary assumptions and to reflect more deeply on what really matters to us in our collective social and economic life.

Preface
1. Introduction
2. Decisions
3. Substantivist economic psychology
4. Plans
5. Self-education as the end of economic life
6. The politics of cognition
7. Number and structure
Acknowledgements.

Subject Areas: Economics [KC], Cognition & cognitive psychology [JMR], Sociology & anthropology [JH]