Sunday, February 1, 2015

Some thoughts about Cancian's study of Zinacantan Society

It's a very short bit in chapter four, toward the end, but the authors reference Cancian's studying of Zinacantan society and how he found that "the riches and poorest" strata were not likely to try experimental methods to increase their wealth was very interesting. He found that it was only the middle sections of the economic spectrum of society that were willing to try more innovative ways of gaining wealth.

This reminds me of the American notion to claim one's middle class status, even in cases when people don't even fall into the middle class. I've seen statistics that roughly 70 percent of Americans think they're middle class, which can hardly be true, despite the edition of "upper" and "lower" modifiers to the term "middle class." It seems that American capitalist society is characterized by the use of innovative, experimental and often risky methods for trying to increase wealth. That parallel between ancient Mayan society and modern American society can serve as evidence that the ancient ideas of "economy" really do have roots that grow into today's society

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