560 pages
English language
Published Aug. 23, 2014 by Melville House.
"Before there was money, there was debt. Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems--to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There's not a shred of evidence to support it. Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that for more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors. Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates …
"Before there was money, there was debt. Every economics textbook says the same thing: Money was invented to replace onerous and complicated barter systems--to relieve ancient people from having to haul their goods to market. The problem with this version of history? There's not a shred of evidence to support it. Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom. He shows that for more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors. Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like guilt, sin, and redemption) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it"--Publisher's description.
This book challenged my thinking on things I thought I knew in exciting ways, in spite of my sharing a similiar politics. I've always been hesitant to read Graeber, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one.
This book challenged my thinking on things I thought I knew in exciting ways, in spite of my sharing a similiar politics. I've always been hesitant to read Graeber, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one.
This book takes a very abstract subject and, through great examples and engaging writing, makes it come alive. I learned a lot from it.
I read three books to understand what I thought was significant about Doctorow's philosophical arguments in Walkaway: Walkaway, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and Debt: the first 5000 years by Graeber.
I haven't looked into economics much since my AP econ. class in High school. I must say, I don't like the discipline much. However, I do understand its power to shape the world.
As far as I can tell, Graeber makes these points in Debt: the First 5000 Years
1) The barter economy used to justify the existence of money and by extension, capitalism, never existed. This mythic barter economy is the origin story of economics.
2) Credit economies are far more common in history. These credit economies were sometimes used as a kind of mutual aid in communities.
3) Much of the time, currency was summoned into existence by monarchs to fund wars. This forced the …
I read three books to understand what I thought was significant about Doctorow's philosophical arguments in Walkaway: Walkaway, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and Debt: the first 5000 years by Graeber.
I haven't looked into economics much since my AP econ. class in High school. I must say, I don't like the discipline much. However, I do understand its power to shape the world.
As far as I can tell, Graeber makes these points in Debt: the First 5000 Years
1) The barter economy used to justify the existence of money and by extension, capitalism, never existed. This mythic barter economy is the origin story of economics.
2) Credit economies are far more common in history. These credit economies were sometimes used as a kind of mutual aid in communities.
3) Much of the time, currency was summoned into existence by monarchs to fund wars. This forced the lower classes to sell their goods for the currency on threat of violence.
4) Money is three things at the same time: a token of value, a reciept for debt, and a measure of value.
5) The combination of honor economies and money lead the the monetization of women that lead to the power of the patriarchy. Also, slavery was not wide spread until human economies and monetary economies collided.
6) Honor is the ability to tear other people away from their contexts.
7) The ideas of greed and charity are complementary. Those who realize this practice mutual aid.
8) Impersonal, commercial markets turn love into debt and violence into valuable widgets torn from their contexts.
Walkaway appeals to me because it is finally an imagining outside of the system of capitalist violence toward mutual aid. Finally, a story that doesn't assume that love becomes debt and violence becomes wealth.
PDF: warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/undergraduate/modules/fulllist/special/statesofdamage/syllabus201516/graeber-debt_the_first_5000_years.pdf
