{"id":165,"date":"2015-03-14T21:07:07","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T01:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coolanthropology.com\/road-of-development\/?p=165"},"modified":"2015-05-01T02:18:16","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T06:18:16","slug":"economics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coolanthropology.com\/road-of-development\/start\/economics\/","title":{"rendered":"ECONOMICS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Economics is the fifth stop on the road to development, highlighting the more gradual changes brought about through development processes. Here, we will consider the extent to which all-pervasive economic systems have impacted the social lives of individuals.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Economics and the economic changes of development have, in many respects, come to be synonymous with the market economy and associated with capitalist ideals. \u00a0As traditional reciprocal labor systems are supplemented and replaced by cash-based labor models, social systems and environments shift. \u00a0As small businesses are replaced by larger corporations, these social and environmental shifts continue along a development trajectory. \u00a0Changes in land use, the privatization and parceling of land and cash labor have meant prosperity for some and poverty for many. \u00a0This economic disparity is both a reflection of and a contributor to changes in infrastructure, education, environment, healthcare and food choice (and, arguably, religion). \u00a0Whether the promise of prosperity is an attractive option or a necessary evil, there is no doubt that multinational corporations earn much from the \u201cdeveloping\u201d poor. While questions of accountability loom large, those with the luxury of experience in the system are beginning to move beyond critique to local action. There is a growing visibility of movements related to \u201calternate economies.\u201d Applying principles of reciprocity, attempts to circumvent or reduce participation in market economies take many forms: barter, local food production, local currencies, dumpster diving, freecycling, communal living spaces and others. \u00a0These \u201cnew\u201d economies borrow from pre-capitalist societies and, in many cases, take advantage of post-capitalist technologies, for example, the recent documentation of the \u201cnew gypsy\u201d movement in which participants choose to live nomadically in the UK while using iphones to communicate. \u00a0Nevertheless, the corporate hold on world economies looms large and there is an inequity in the resources needed to pick and choose our involvement in \u201cthe system\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>

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