Spheres of exchange is a classic topic in anthropology,[1] and a heuristic tool for analyzing trading restrictions within societies that are communally governed and where resources are communally available.[1]
Basically, taboos or restrictions on the trading or gifting of subsistence items for wealth items can be analyzed using a spheres of exchange template where the production and utilization of wealth is considered as a different category (or sphere) from subsistence activities and products. These societal restrictions exist in order to maintain the availability of subsistence for all of the group's members by preventing their accumulation by a few, and these restrictions also inhibit the accumulation of wealth by a few individuals, to the detriment of the community.[2]
The introduction of money into communal societies where these sphere-of-exchange restrictions exist can disrupt resource allocation, by creating a pathway for exchange that is not accounted for in the existing restrictions.[3] However, in some societies money has been more or less successfully integrated into spheres of exchange.[4]
The classic example[5] of spheres of exchange was provided by Paul Bohannan and Laura Bohannan from their field work with the Tiv in Nigeria. The subsistence sphere included food such as yams, grains, vegetables, and small livestock, as well as eating utensils, farming tools and tools for food-preparation. The second sphere of wealth included brass rods, cattle, white cloth, and slaves. While a third sphere was marriageable female relatives.[6] In calling these different areas of exchange spheres, we imply that each includes commodities that are not regarded as equivalent to those commodities in other spheres and hence in ordinary situations are not exchangeable. Each sphere is a different universe of objects. A different set of moral values and different behavior are to be found in each sphere.[6]