The Debate on the Concept of Value: Interpretations from the Perspective of Economics and Social Anthropology

Abstract

The objective of this paper intend to compare the different interpretations on the theory of value, taking into account the prior background, be it from an economic or an anthropological perspective. In this case, we used the literature review method as an important part of the research, its purpose is to provide a justification of work conducted. For this, we review of the answers that have been given about the notion of value from economics and anthropology. In this review, the greater difficulty has been, indeed, the historical separation between disciplines that frequently have developed their theoretical conceptualizations about economic fact separately, while the cooperation attempts have had to overcome important methodological and formal differences. Although methodologies close to the anthropological thought and practice underlay classical economics because they use arguments based on institutions and cultural diversity, the possible combination between both sciences did not materialise due to the success of neoclassical formalism. The only exceptions arise in schools of economic thought which are away from the mainstream. In this paper, we use the theory of value to demonstrate this process.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n2p11