On money, debt and morality: Before Smith, Smith, After Smith

Description

Keynote Address

Introduced by Dame Marilyn Strathern

Chris Gregory (The Australian National University):
On money, debt and morality: Before Smith, Smith, After Smith

 

Abstract

Why do we use the word 'debt' when we want to say that money-lending is a bad thing and 'credit' when we want to say that it a good thing? As the concept 'negative reciprocity' suggests, the language of anthropological thought is part of the problem not the solution. Adam Smith's theories represent a turning point in the history of European thought on this matter.  Economic anthropology is defined by its opposition to Smith's alleged theory of 'natural economy' but this notion is a straw man.  Malinowski created this totem and we have inherited today it via Mauss and Polanyi.  A cursory glance at Smith's theory of moral economy reveals the pre-Smithian nature of much economic anthropology but there are prominent exceptions and these women can help us grasp the moral dimension of 'sub-prime' lending as practiced in the domestic.

This lecture is part of the CRASSH conference Debt: for more information, please click here. 

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Administrative assistance: Helga Brandt (Conference Programme Manager, CRASSH)