A Sentimental Economy. Commodity and Community in Rural Ireland

On the fringe ofwestern Europeyet fully integrated into the capitalist marketthe rural economy of the west of Ireland seems to provide a fascinating object of analysis to the student of European folk cultures. This book concentrates on a particular aspect of that rural economy: the social organization and cultural construction of work in a community of family farms. The concept of workwhich is primarily farm workis taken here as a very elementary set ofideasimages and experiences that enable us to penetrate in the different cultural spheres that intersect life on an Irish family farm. Workthe author concludesis to this farming community what the Kula ring is to the Trobriand islanders - a kind of Maussian the analysis of which incorporates a comprehensive description ofa particular socialsystem.