Edited volume ‘THRIFT AND ITS PARADOXES: From Domestic to Political Economy’ is finally out

Alexander, C, and Sosna, D. (2022) Thrift and Its Paradoxes: From Domestic to Political Economy. Max Planck Studies in Anthtropology and Economy, vol. 10. New York: Berghahn.

https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/AlexanderThrift

Introduction here

Book Description

Thrift is a central concern for most people, especially in turbulent economic times. It is both an economic and an ethical logic of frugal living, saving and avoiding waste for long-term kin care. These logics echo the ancient ideal of household self-sufficiency, contrasting with capitalism’s wasteful present-focused growth. But thrift now exceeds domestic matters straying across scales to justify public expenditure cuts. Through a wide range of ethnographic contexts this book explores how practices and moralities of thrift are intertwined with austerity, debt, welfare, and patronage across various social and temporal scales and are constantly re-negotiated at the nexus of socio-economic, religious, and kinship ideals and praxis.