The Cultural Politics of Markets

Economic Liberalization and Social Change in Nepal

Katharine Neilson Rankin

• Publisher: Pluto Press
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9780745319445
• eBook ISBN: 9781849641616
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

International markets have emerged as the favoured way of achieving not only economic growth and efficiency but also political freedom and social justice. This book is a study of the social embeddedness of markets, in an era when the ideology of the 'free market' governs development as much as trade. Using a wide theoretical framework that encompasses both anthropology and geography, Katharine Rankin critiques neoliberal approaches to development, showing that the capitalist market will always be linked to local social structures and cultures of value. Market-led development, therefore, does not necessarily expand opportunity; rather it can deepen existing injustic and inequality. Using the example of a 'traditional' Newar market town located in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, Rankin explores how the 'value' ascribed to social prestige relates to economic opportunity. Showing how those in subordinate social locations are positioned to critique inequality, Rankin argues that planners should pursue progressive notions of development that recognise the critical resources within culture.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. The Cultural Politics of Markets
• 2. Anthropologies and Geographies of Globalization
• 3. Genealogy of Markets and Exchange
• 4. Newar Representations of Finance: Toward an Anthropology of Profit
• 5. Caste and Gender Economics
• 6. Global - Local Articulations in an Age of Neoliberalism
• 7. Planning and Development
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index