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carving up the profits: apprenticeship and structural flexibility in a contemporary African craft market
Author(s) -
SILVER HARRY R.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1981.8.1.02a00030
Subject(s) - carving , craft , apprenticeship , flexibility (engineering) , perspective (graphical) , sociology , economics , neoclassical economics , management , history , computer science , archaeology , artificial intelligence
African apprentice workgroups have structural limitations at the level of the individual unit which hinder the elasticity of their response to market fluctuations. Substantivists have noted that analysis of these institutions as classic Western “enterprises” may therefore be misleading. However, their divergence from this model need not totally invalidate examination of such workgroups from a formalist perspective. Under the guidance of entrepreneurs, individual units may be temporarily integrated into broader structural networks which are sensitive to market demands. Hence, a melding of economic perspectives may prove most fruitful in analyzing such institutions. [economics, social organization, culture change, art]