Amoral Familism and the Image of Limited Good: A Critique from a European Perspective

Abstract

Foster's analysis of the image oflim ited good (which also seeks to subsume the concept of amoral familism) is still frequently referred to in studies of the European peasantry, although it has also been criticised in various ways as a predictive model of behaviour. Without entering the issue of prediction, the present study considers whether the image of limited good does in fact accurately reflect the thinking of a classic peasant village in Greece. It emerges that limited goods, which are necessarily viewed as commodities, are not easily discriminated in village thinking from other kinds ofgoods, which are not so viewed, and whether in regard to land, the family, hospitality or economic improvement, the meaning of village behaviour depends less on images of limited good than on images of other goods which accord with, oppose, or complement them. While Foster's analysis has contributed interesting insights on the way values can be defined as co nmodities, it is better to view European peasant societies within a more comprehensive framework which is sensitive to the other ways in which peasant values can be defined. [amoralfamilism, entrepreneurs, Greece, limited good, peasants]

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