The values of life

Irene Moretti

Chapter 7 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Economic Anthropology, 2025, pp 245-248 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The commensurability of different realms of values is a long-standing and unresolved question in anthropological inquiry. Without aiming to find a definitive answer, this encyclopedia entry shows the power of the ethnographic method and the centrality of insurance products (and payout procedures in particular) to examine how the commensurability between different realms of values is understood and achieved in contemporary Italy. By drawing on seminal works in economic anthropology (Zelizer, 1985; Guyer, 2004) and snippets of the author's fieldwork among and about road crash victims in two Italian regions, this entry shows how liability car insurance payouts are not direct equations of the (moral and social) worth of victims’ lives. They are, however, expressions of propriety surrounding ‘typical’ family matters and care responsibilities.

Keywords: (in)commensurability; Values; Insurance; Morality; Kinship; Liability car insurance; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035312566
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