Schneider (2002): “World Markets: Anthropological Perspectives”

In “World Markets: Anthropological Perspectives,” Jane Schneider describes the

development of capitalism and its effect in creating an uneven playing field in the free market.
Schneider highlights the dispositions, values and practices associated with capitalism as
enlightened self interest, the belief that regulations and control of technological innovations are
not essential, and the belief in the market to cause happiness. Anthropologist Marcel Mauss
wrote and essay in which he argues against the altruistic nature of gift giving, arguing that giving
gifts is a social phenomenon that occurs with the gift giver’s intention to be envied or resented.
Since the 1970s, industrialization for world markets has spread all over the world, resulting in
increasing factories and more workers. This in turn increased the development of rural to urban
societies. Schneider highlights that while capitalism is thought ot have raised the standard of
living, it has also resulted in chaos in some societies.

Goldman (2005): “Tracing the Roots/Routes of World Bank Power”

In his article about the Roots of the World Bank, Michael Goldman highlights the
straying of the World Bank from their original goals. He states that while many assume that the
original intention of the World Bank was to eradicate poverty, their true goal was to rebuild the
global economy through investments. Goldman also states that the dominating history is the
result of European hegemonic power. However, the World Bank is struggling as a result of high
demand for its goods and services. In the beginning, the World Bank was lending slowly and in
small amounts to mainly middle income countries. However, when the bank rose to power, the
President of the bank took advantage of the economy and created a global market for
development, resulting in more lending by the World Bank and more debts for the poor states
and farmers.