Roots of Western Finance (eBook)

Power, Ethics, and Social Capital in the Ancient World

James B.Greenberg, Thomas K. Park (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017
304 Seiten
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-1-4985-4582-2 (ISBN)

Infos

In The Roots of Western Finance, Thomas K. Park and James B. Greenberg take an anthropological approach to origins of western finance and credit in ancient societies, covering a period of five thousand years from ancient Mesopotamia to the Islamic world in the eleventh century. Park and Greenberg reveal that credit is not simply an economic transaction; it is a social relationship and a technology of power.

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In The Roots of Western Finance: Power, Ethics, and Social Capital in the Ancient World, Thomas K. Park and James B. Greenberg take an anthropological approach to credit. They suggest that financial activities occur in a complex milieu, in which specific parties, with particular motives, achieve their goals using a form of social, cultural, or economic agency. They examine the imbrication of finance and hidden interests in Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, classical Greece and Rome, the early Judeo-Christian traditions, and the Islamic world to illuminate the ties between social, ethical, and financial institutions. This unique breadth of research provides new perspectives on Mesopotamian ways of incentivizing production through financial arrangements, the source of Egyptian surpluses, linguistics and usury, metrological influences on finance, and the enduring importance of honor and social capital. This book not only illustrates the particular cultural logics that drove these ancient economies, it also depicts how modern society's financial techniques, ethics, and concerns with justice are attributable to a rich multicultural history.

Autor

Thomas K. Park is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Arizona. James B. Greenberg is professor of anthropology and senior research anthropologist at the University of Arizona.

Inhalt

IntroductionChapter 1: Mesopotamian Roots of the Modern Financial SystemChapter 2: Mesopotamian Financial InnovationsChapter 3: Financing Ancient Egypt’s Organizational EconomyChapter 4: Finance and Social Capital in Classical Greece and RomeChapter 5: Justice to Altruism: Early Judeo-Christian FinanceChapter 6: Islamic Finances and the Eastern MediterraneanConclusion: Hidden Interests and the Anthropology of CreditAppendix: Technologies of Power and the Metrology of Grain Storage in the Ancient Near East

Produkt-Details

• Zusatzinfo: 15 Illustrations including: - 2 Black & White Illustrations; - 3 Halftones, Black & White including Black & White Photographs; - 3 Maps; - 1 Charts; - 6 Tables.
• Verlagsort: Lanham
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Mittelalter
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• Themenwelt: Wirtschaft ► Betriebswirtschaft / Management ► Finanzierung
• Schlagworte: Ancient history • Anthropology • Finance
• ISBN-10: 1-4985-4582-3 / 1498545823
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4985-4582-2 / 9781498545822