Towards a Marriage between Economics and Anthropology and a General Theory of Marriage

Historically, there have been clear lines of demarcation between economics and anthropology. Mary Douglas, p. 781, asserts that centripetal forces attract resources towards the center of a discipline and discourage turbulence at the boundaries of a subject out of fear of losing autonomy. If she is correct, then the present division of the social sciences may not be more than a historical accident, another instance of institutional self-perpetuation. This paper is a declaration of turbulence. Building on the present trend to stretch disciplinary boundaries, it proposes a unification between economics and anthropology. As a first step, it is suggested that our disciplines could jointly work towards a general study of marriage.