Noiva do Cordeiro community: contributions from elements of a system based on substantive economy

Abstract This study investigated the formation and interaction of an alternative economic system in the Noiva do Cordeiro-MG community with the dynamics of the mercantile economy. Qualitative research was conducted from an ethnography study developed with the rural community. Based on the theories of economic sociology by Marcel Mauss and Karl Polanyi, this paper points out that the aspects of giving and reciprocity in productive relationships were central to reproducing a strong solidarity logic. Through very own principles, structures, and institutions, in which money plays a very small role, the findings indicate that the community has been able to survive even in the face of the tensions of a market society.