At stratos’ “cauldron”. Tsípouro distillation and qualitative moral economy in Evzonoi, Greece

Anthropological studies of moral economy are grounded in a quantitative conception of economics. In the theoretical slipstream of scholars such as James C. Scott or Edward P. Thompson, an authority extracting goods and services from a subordinate entity behaves morally if what remains for the latter is quantitatively sufficient for survival and social integration. The ultimate objective pursued in this paper is a contextual and alternative re-visiting of the moral economy. The context is provided by the activity at one of the two workshops for distillation commonly known as “cauldrons”– that of Strátos – in Évzonoi, Kilkis prefecture, Greece. He distils each autumn tsípouro, the renowned Greek brandy from grapes. The anthropological backdrop of behaviours at the cauldron was rooted in the trust that the two parties involved in the economic relationship fulfil their respective duties; for Strátos, among others duties, that of distilling a product of the highest quality, primarily related to safety for consumption. The alternative revisiting of the moral economy involves a redefinition of the safety-first principle, as was implied by J. C. Scott: a shift from safety concerning the quantity of goods and services one needs for survival and social integration to one related to their quality.