Budgetary Units: A Weberian Approach to Consumption

The Changing Valuation of Dogs1

“…Substantively, this tilt emerges via a strong focus on individual preferences and retail spaces, rather than more sociological areas of interests. In contrast, Erin McDonnell’s (2013) work demonstrates the sociological utility of the “budgetary unit,” defined as a “relatively durable social collectives where a substantial portion of collective activity is devoted to consumption” (McDonnell 2013:309). Budgetary units have many similarities and important differences with their counterpart, the profit‐making “enterprise.” Budgetary units, like enterprises, do include income‐producing activities; however, such activities are primarily concerned with satisfying present and future consumption.…”

“…Budgetary units have many similarities and important differences with their counterpart, the profit‐making “enterprise.” Budgetary units, like enterprises, do include income‐producing activities; however, such activities are primarily concerned with satisfying present and future consumption. That is, the core of budgetary units is their “orientation to consumption,” meaning they focus “action on the satisfaction of the needs and wants of budgetary unit members” (McDonnell 2013). The key value from introducing budgetary units into consumption studies is in allowing analysts to foreground the collective nature of resource acquisition and allocation, focus attention on consumption activities rather than products, and foregrounds how decisions are made with an orientation toward the wants and needs of group members.…”

“…While the “family” is likely to come to mind when considering budgetary units, McDonnell expands the scope to encompass a wide range of social groups (e.g., Russian organized crime, Catholic nuns, and immigrant remittances). Unlike market exchange, where buyers and sellers engage in fleeting interactions, budgetary units “impose some conditions of membership to control entry into the space of repeated interaction and help manage the social difficulties of sharing consumption by shaping the body of concurrent consumers” (McDonnell 2013). Indeed, as the size of the budgetary unit increases, so does the complexity of satisfying every members’ consumption wants and needs.…”

“…Zelizer’s approach—which is sometimes called the connected lives or relational approach—often implies a high degree of idiosyncrasy (or a pragmatic creativity) in respect to the strategies people use to resolve potentially profaning economic arrangements, and yet we see that strategies are often widely shared. Therefore, we turn to Erin McDonnell’s (2013) development of the Weberian concept of the “budgetary unit” to provide a framework for understanding patterned changes in economic processes.…”

Informality as illegality in Georgia’s anti-mafia campaign

“…As a mode of pooling resources, the obshchak became an informal taxation system that involved redistribution, in principle based on the maxim to each according to their need. McDonnell (2013) argues that the practice provided security and was consumption based, rather than predatory and based on selling protection. In any case, there appears to have been a move in Georgia from specific to generalized reciprocity.…”