Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Kinship And The Self-Organization Of Exchange In Small-Scale Societies, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Circulation of material goods is common in small-scale societies. Even where exchange is not coordinated above the level of the household, goods produced in one area are consistently conveyed to distant settlements. Numerous ethnographic studies demonstrate that exchange transactions are common among kin, and that the circulation of goods in small-scale societies is structured by kinship ties. From an individual’s point of view, the number of kinfolk available to exchange with and where they live strongly affect access to nonlocal goods. This paper explores the interrelationships among kin networks, settlement organization, and exchange using agent-based modeling, ethnographic studies, and archaeological …