The Social Life of Pricing: How Cultures Assign Value Beyond Economics
Prices look numerical, objective, and rational. However, anthropologists have long demonstrated that value is never simply economic. Rather, value is relational, symbolic, and cultural. How societies value, that is, how they price their goods, reflects their notions of fairness, identity, status, and morality. In many product markets, "price" becomes a stand-in for "meaning." "Value signaling" is the term that anthropologists use to describe the notion that a higher price ind
The Anthropology of Corporate Space: How Office Design Shapes Power, Identity, and Innovation
Office design is about so much more than meters and cubicles. It is a social endeavor with significant stakes—the geometry of a space, the placement of a chair, the thrum of a shared area all communicate something about who we are, who is valued, and what we need to do together. Space equates with value, with power, with expectation the instant you step inside. Anthropologists have long studied the ways in which a community is organized—and where people live, conduct market
When Products Become Rituals: How Everyday Consumer Goods Turn Into Cultural Anchors
A routine set of products, such as headphones, a smoothie in the morning, and a water bottle, can be rituals despite the lack of religious importance. Routinely being used within an everyday routine, these products can be elevated from being simple products into important cultural objects within anthropology related fields concerning business, especially within marketing, which may often overlook such effects. pasties de nata in Lisbon, Portugal Rituals involve something more
The Entrepreneur as Ethnographer: What Startups Can Learn from Fieldwork
Entrepreneurship is often framed in the language of innovation, disruption, and strategy. Founders are supposed to analyze markets, model financials, and build products that scale. But, beneath these technical skills lies a deeper, less frequently talked-about capability: the ability to understand people. Not people as data points or demographic categories, but people as cultural beings—individuals formed by habits, identities, emotions, and social worlds. This ability is not
The Hidden Anthropology of Workspaces: How Culture Shapes Where People Choose to Work
In today's world where work is being done from home and flexible hours are becoming normal working norms, it is very easy to conclude that workplace preferences have become dependent on convenience benefits such as WiFi connectivity and being closer to home. However, to digress further and understand why workers have preferences for particular types of work environments based on identity expression and social expectations rather than basic convenience, one gets to realize tha
The Economics of Dignity: Why Respect Is a Market Advantage
You may hear economics explained using terms such as market price, supply and demand, and effective choice. But, between the terms of economics and their quantifiable measurements is another side of economics: dignity. While many may see dignity as merely a principle to consider in social situations involving service or helping others, dignity is also a principle of economics because while individuals may feel respected and valued for their presence within systems, others may
The Cost of Cultural Friction: What Happens When Systems Aren’t Designed for Real Humans
Systems shape how we live, work, and interact. Yet many systems fail because they don’t consider the real people who use them. When systems ignore cultural differences, human behavior, and everyday realities, they create friction. This friction leads to wasted time, frustration, lost opportunities, and sometimes even harm. Understanding the cost of cultural friction reveals why designing systems for real humans matters more than ever. What Cultural Friction Looks Like in Syst
