The Ideal Marriage between the Economist's Macroapproach and the Social Anthropologist's Microapproach to Development Studies

THE FRAMEWORK & ADVANTAGES FOR AN INTERDISCIPLINARY MERGER OF THE WORK OF THE ECONOMIST & THE SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGIST ARE PRESENTED. HISTORICALLY, ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY BEGAN IN THE 19TH CENTURY. K. MARX & M. WEBER WERE PROPONENTS OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES. MARX CONCENTRATED ON EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF ECONOMIC FACTORS ON SOCIAL ORGANIZATION; WEBER ANALYZED THE IMPACT OF VARYING SOCIOLOGICAL VARIABLES. ANTHROPOLOGISTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MORE OPEN TO THIS KIND OF COOPERATION THAN HAVE ECONOMISTS. HOWEVER, WITH THE GROWING CONCERN OVER THE THIRD WORLD & ITS OBVIOUS ECONOMIC DISADVANTAGES, THE ECONOMISTS' ISOLATIONISM BECAME IMPOSSIBLE TO MAINTAIN. IT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY NECESSARY TO INCLUDE A COMPLETE CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN ANY ANALYSIS OF THE THIRD WORLD ECONOMICS. RESEARCH IN THE ECONOMIC SYSTEMS IN SOUTH INDIA IS PRESENTED AS AN EXAMPLE OF THIS CRUCIAL INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY. THE SALE OF COCOA BY INDIGENOUS NEW GUINEA GROWERS IS ALSO PRESENTED IN DETAIL, OUTLINING THE POSSIBILITIES FOR COOPERATION BETWEEN THE 2 DISCIPLINES. MICRO STUDIES SHOULD ALWAYS INCLUDE BOTH DISCIPLINES; STUDENTS SHOULD BE TRAINED TO COMBINE THEM EFFECTIVELY. MACROECONOMISTS SHOULD BE EVER AWARE OF THE NEED FOR MICROSTUDIES WITHIN THE LARGER FRAMEWORK & USE THE SKILLS OF THOSE SO TRAINED. B. WEISBROD.