In
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
, limited good is the theory commonly held in
traditional societies that there is a limited amount of "good" to go around. In other words, the amount of land,
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...
, etc. available is held to be finite, so every time one person profits, another loses.
Societies that subscribe to this philosophy tend to display strong levels of equality among members and to be strongly resistant to
social change
Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Sustained at a larger scale, it may lead to social transformation or societal transformat ...
.
The term was coined by
George M. Foster in his 1965 article, Peasant Society and the Image of Limited Good, "American Anthropologist." The concept has been described by Allen as the rural counterpart of the ''
culture of poverty
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these gro ...
''. The Mexican peasants (in
Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán
Tzintzuntzan () is a town in Tzintzuntzan Municipality located in the north of Michoacán state, 53 km from the capital of Morelia and 17.5 km from Pátzcuaro, located on the northeast shore of Lake Pátzcuaro. It is best known as the f ...
) Foster studied were seen by him to lack interest in new opportunities because of their perception of the world as a "competitive game." This led to a high level of distrust and envy and fragile and constantly shifting patterns of alignment.
[Allen, Tim (2000) Taking Culture Seriously — Chapter 21 in Poverty And Development, Second Edition, Edited by Tim Allen and Alan Thomas, The Open University and Oxford University Press]
See also
*
Fixed pie fallacy
*
Zero-sum bias
Sources
* Foster, George M. (1965) Peasant Society and the Image of Limited Good, ''American Anthropologist'' New Series, Vol. 67, No. 2, Apr., pp. 293–315
* Kennedy, John G. (1966) Peasant Society and the Image of Limited Good": A Critique, ''American Anthropologist'' New Series, Vol. 68, No. 5, Oct., pp. 1212–1225
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Limited Good
Anthropology
Distribution of wealth