This work examines the socio-economic context of the small town of Eichelborn in the Westphalia region of Germany. There, a local and 'moral' economy existed until the end of the 1960's that resisted the forces of integration into a wider self-regulatory market system for an exceptionally long time, continuing to rely primarily on simple craft production and small-scale farming for the local market. Employing mainly qualitative methods, the aim of research was to describe the economic and social structure of this place as well as to determine whether it functioned according to the principles of a pre-market society as indicated in Karl Polanyi's writings. The findings of my research show that one can, indeed, understand Eichelborn as a Polanyi-type community and as a 'moral' economy in which a strong interrelation and unity between the social and economic realms result in the reconciliation between 'personal self-interest' and 'morality'.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.34006 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Junker, Berit. |
| Contributors | von Eschen, Donald (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Sociology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001873853, proquestno: MQ79109, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0027 seconds