Some political aspects of craft specialization
- 1 June 1991
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in World Archaeology
- Vol. 23 (1), 1-11
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1991.9980155
Abstract
Scholars have noted that craft specialization becomes more common as societies become more politically centralized. The relationship between craft specialization and political centralization is investigated using ethnographic data on the production and consumption of personal ornaments used in societies of varying degrees of political centralization. Craft specialization in these societies appears to be linked to strategies employed by elites to maintain political authority, and is not strictly an economic or artistic activity.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Staple Finance, Wealth Finance, and Storage in the Inka Political Economy [and Comments and Reply]Current Anthropology, 1985
- The Mesoamerican World SystemAmerican Anthropologist, 1984
- Ideology, power and prehistory: An introductionPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1984
- The rise of Egyptian civilizationPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1983
- Ideology, symbolic power and ritual communication: a reinterpretation of Neolithic mortuary practicesPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1982
- Theoretical archaeology: a reactionary viewPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1982
- Ideology, change and the European Early Bronze AgePublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1982
- Structures and strategies: an aspect of the relationship between social hierarchy and cultural changePublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1982
- Symbolic PowerCritique of Anthropology, 1979
- The iconography of power among the Classic MayaWorld Archaeology, 1974