Folk and Scientific Concepts in the Study of Greed

Abstract

The distinction between folk and scientific concepts in anthropology is reviewed in this article. As an Anglo‐European folk concept, greed is often a moral judgment; it is therefore the product of a folk system. As such, it is argued that greed is not a scientific concept. The assignment of greed to social and/or economic acts implies concepts of production, exchange, and accumulation. The scientific concepts for economic production and economic exchange are presented. Industrial production when combined with the market principle provides a distinctive context for the judgment of greed. Two sets of folk rules, which are applied to cases of accumulation, justice, and development, are suggested. A strategy for generating a scientific study of greed is proposed.