Anthropology & Sociology
Works about human development and culture or critiquing anthropology.
The Great Transformation
Author: Karl Polanyi
In this work, Prof. Karl Polanyi lays out how the rise of Capitalism has transformed society, and made social bonds subordinate to the economy. He also showcases how the ideal "self-regulating" laissez-faire capitalist economy (or disembedded economy) is an utopian project that cannot be achieved in real-life, and how it instead leads to ever-increasing inequality and alienation.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Author: Max Weber
Originally published as a series of essays in 1905, this book is considered a foundational work in the field of economic sociology. In it, Max Weber provides an explanation of how the "Protestant work ethic" was a key feature and contributing factor to the emergence of Capitalism in Europe.
Passing The Buck
Author: Michael L. Blakey
A merciless critique of the field of anthropology where Blakey, himself an anthropologist, explains how the science began as a pseudoscientific means to support "scientific" racism in Europe. He then showcases how many cultural and physical anthropological concepts that have become popular in the modern day (such as individualism) still exist to subtly support racism and give Euro-Americans a pass in their ignorance of it.
The Livelihood of Man
Author: Karl Polanyi
Karl Polanyi's final work, published after his death. Something of a companion to or recap of another of Polanyi's works: "The Great Transformation", in this book Polanyi examines various human societies, their relation to their economies, and how in most of human history competitive market-based economies have either been absent or subordinate in the greater society.
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema
Author: Horace Miner
A satirical paper that explores the life and rituals of a "mysterious tribe" in North America, in reality describing white people in 1950s America using the same language western anthropologists tend to use when talking about other cultures. The idea here being to point out how this reveals the biases of the researcher and how it dehumanizes and mystifies other cultures.
Primitive Polynesian Economy
Author: Raymond Firth
An interesting, if outmoded look at the economic systems in pre-capitalist Polynesia and how they relate to socialist and communist economic systems, written after Prof. Raymond Firth's 1929 expedition to the island of Tikopia.