Economic Anthropology – an Interdisciplinary Perspective

What do anthropology, economics, and sociology have in common? What kind of knowledge does combining these three fields lead to? Today’s guest, Professor Chris Hann, Emeritus Professor at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, explains that separating economics from sociology and anthropology is not a productive way of thinking about the world; instead, we should adopt an interdisciplinary approach. In this episode, we discuss Prof. Hann’s research on rural communities in Eastern European countries such as Poland and Hungary. He also explains why he prefers to use the term “Eurasia,” despite its association with Russian nationalism. “We should think in terms of civilizations that share common values, rather than individual cultures,” Prof. Hann says. He explains what moral economy is, Jurgen Habermas’ concepts of “supranationalism” and “constitutional patriotism,” and tells us whether religion has any influence on society’s approach to work and economics.