ABSTRACT
In terms of style and structure, Debt: The First 5,000 Years resembles both a history book and a declaration of belief. Debt charts a new course for those within academia who are interested in alternatives to the traditional understanding of economic history. Debt uses anthropological and historical evidence to argue that money did not arise from a natural human tendency toward bartering, despite the claims of Adam Smith and the economists that followed him. As rulers and states grew more powerful, social obligations gradually converted into measurable, impersonal debts, which disrupted human relationships. David Graeber describes money as the tool used to calculate debts and justify punishments for those who owed them. With five millennia of history as evidence, Graeber argues that the commercial economy does not reflect human nature, and that it creates complex ways for the wealthy to take advantage of the poor.
