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Content archived on 2024-06-18

The Economics of Frugality Between Ancient Rome and Contemporary Western Society

Objective

"The ECOFRUGAL project explores the relationship between ancient Roman values, behaviours, and laws regarding “material sobriety” and modern conceptions of such that have emerged in conjunction with the crisis now facing advanced capitalism. Using an interdisciplinary, comparative framework that draws on economic anthropology and cultural history, the project aims at a better understanding of Roman culture’s native concepts of frugality and a contextualization of “frugal” theories and practices now developing in Western political, economic, and social thought.
Beginning with a lexicographic analysis of Roman concepts of “frugality” and an assessment of the impact of normative “frugal” values on the economic and cultural history of Rome (from the archaic age to the early empire), ECOFRUGAL goes on to articulate a more precise definition of the notions of frugality that have, in recent years, been at the centre of cultural and economic debate, especially in Western Europe. Through a cultural comparison between Roman models of behaviour concerning the limitation of material needs and desires – including their historical transformation – and contemporary Western notions of frugality, the project aims, in particular, to:
First, increase significantly the field’s knowledge of the cultural codes according to which the Romans elaborated their conceptions of economy and of the historical dynamics of these conceptions;
Second, better understand the relationship between Roman forms of materials sobriety and ideas of frugality that have emerged in the economic and socio-political thought of contemporary society;
Third, re-evaluate Roman economic culture as a “resource of experience” for rethinking and thus understanding how the modern world can usefully re-appropriate ancient experience to resolve certain existing problems, and;
Finally, to contribute to the intellectual profile of the European Research Area by engaging with a topic of such immediate societal relevance."

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2011-IEF
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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)

Coordinator

THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
EU contribution
€ 209 033,40
Address
TRINITY LANE THE OLD SCHOOLS
CB2 1TN CAMBRIDGE
United Kingdom

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Region
East of England East Anglia Cambridgeshire CC
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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