Economic anthropology

Episode number 15 of Series “Faces of culture”.
All economics would vanish and all societies would crumble without the labour of men and women. Production, distribution and consumption are the essential components of the economic cycle, even in the most primitive societies. This program looks at the three basic forms of distribution: reciprocity - in which goods are shared between the society, either in a completely unrestricted manner as in hunter-gatherer societies, or in a carefully balanced system of giving of equal gifts. Redistribution often involves the giving away of wealth to gain prestige. Market distribution can be simple, as in local markets where goods are exchanged for other goods or for money, or extremely complicated as in the world systems of capitalism and communism. Narrated by David Carradine.