18 



TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMY 



changed between business firms. Wliere units are 

 household groups, with consumption needs, wholly 

 rational business transactions must be few. 



But even though the regional economj' lacks 

 firms, I find it hard to imagine a people more 

 endowed with the spirit of business enterprise than 

 the Indians (and Ladinos) that I know best. 

 There is probably no Panajachel Indian over the 

 age of 10 who has not calculated a way to make 

 money with his available resources. Just as boys 

 in our society begin to "trade" at a tender age, so 

 the Indians early take and make opportunities for 

 profit. — "for keeps," or, put another way, in terms 

 of advantage accepted by adult society. I know 

 of boys 8 and 10 years of age who have set them- 

 selves up in business, buying and selling independ- 

 ently of their parents. Boys of 12 or 14 are apt to 

 be pretty sophisticated traders. I doubt that I 

 know even one man in the region who is not 

 interested in new ways of making money, who does 

 not have, typically, an iron or two in the fire, and 

 who does not make his living partly as a business 

 enterpriser. His wife is often the brains behind 

 the business, too, and women also independently 

 engage in business enterprises of one kind or 

 other. It is therefore easy to go for descriptions 

 of Panajachel to the writings of classical econo- 

 mists, for (as Adam Smith says; 1937, p. 421): 

 "Every individual is continually exerting himself 

 to find out the most advantageous employment for 

 whatever capital he can command." 



The ethic of the community seems admirably 

 suited to such an economy. There is frank ad- 

 mission that wealth is good. It is money that 

 makes possible the fulfillment of recognized duties 

 to the community and to one's family. Indeed, 

 money is one of the sacra of the Indian culture, 

 together with such other socially valuable items 

 as corn, fire, and the land. Before the Conquest 

 cacao beans were used as money, and entered into 

 mythology and ritual as well as the market place; 

 the substitution of coins and banknotes has oc- 

 curred in both realms, and money is both ordinary 

 and a subject of esoteric belief and sacred attitude.'* 



Industry and intelligence (together with hones- 

 ty) are perhaps the most valued single traits of 

 character. In folklore it is the lazy person who 

 gets into trouble (although in folklore he may 



'* To he documented with publication of material on the world view of 

 Panajachel. Meanwhile, material is available in my microfilmed Panajachel 

 Field Notes, 1950 (hereafter referred to simply as my microfilmed notes), es- 

 pecially pp. 550-554 and the sections on beliefs, and in many stories. 



come out on top, Cinderella fashion) and wily 

 tricksters are spoken of with appreciation. It is 

 clearly recognized that luck is important in de- 

 termining man's prosperity; I think there is no 

 notion of damning a man's character siniply 

 because he is poor (perhaps the community is too 

 small, and the people too informed about one 

 another to permit such stereotypical thinking). 

 But by the same token, the successful man is 

 recognized to have had more than good fortune: 

 he has been industrious and intelligent as well. 

 By and large, m a simple-agricultural-small-busi- 

 ness society, this is of course a valid diagnosis. 



Honesty is highly valued. In assessing the 

 place of this good in the economy, however, two 

 points seem relevant. In the first place, the defi- 

 nition of what is honest permits sharp business 

 practices, such as "let the buyer beware"; nobody 

 is expected to tell the whole truth, and it would be 

 unintelligent to do so. To recognize and repay 

 debts (even without documents to prove them); 

 to keep a bargain; to give full measure — all these 

 are expected. But to be fooled is also expected. 

 Two incidents perhaps illustrate the difi'ereiice. 

 The one is the furor that occurred in the market 

 place one day when a buyer claimed to be short- 

 weighted (by an outside merchant); nobody 

 thought it was funny, and the law was called in. 

 The other incident was funny, though it concerns 

 short weight no less. The Indian women of 

 neighboring Santa Catarina weave red huipiles 

 that make attractive tablecloths in the eyes of 

 Americans. In 19;?7 the Catarinecas were not 

 engaged in any considerable tourist trade, but 

 we were buying such huipiles. At first we paid 

 $2.50 or $3, bargaining as is customary Ln such 

 cases, and piu-chased quite a few. The women 

 came with greater and greater frequency; and since 

 they were making the cloths primarily for us, we 

 felt an obligation to continue buying. In order to 

 put a stop to it, we lowered om* price, and began 

 paying no more than $2. They kept coming. We 

 lowered our price to $1.50 and eventually to $1, 

 and stiU they kept coming. (How foolish we had 

 been to pay $2.50!) Eventually, a particular 

 friend who had not before come to sell us textiles 

 came to offer a huipil she had made; she wanted 

 $3 and would not come down in price. When 

 we told her what we had been paying, she asked 

 to see the textiles; a comparison showed that hers 

 weighed at least twice as much as those we were 



