New perspectives on surplus production and inequality: surplus as relation, strategy and agency

Abstract

In this review, I suggest that Surplus is a valuable addition to anyone studying economic relations because this volume brings to the table a much-needed and refreshing perspective on how surplus is not merely a catalyst for the development of inequality and hierarchy. This volume explores surplus production, storage and allocation as fundamentally relational, as forms of agency and as strategies that have been put to numerous uses throughout history. At its most provocative, this volume brings a perspective-changing view of economic strategies and the role of surplus to economic theory, archaeology, anthropology and other social sciences.