In the field of Economic Anthropology, regarding the implication within the term “economics”, the substantivist position contests the formalist perspective. While the latter of the positions defines the aforementioned subject of study as the discipline which researches rational utility maximization under conditions of scarcity, the substantivist approach postulates dual-meanings within the term itself. These bipartite definitions constitute themselves in the form of the aforementioned formalist criteria of analysis which is only applicable to industrial capitalist economies, and a substantivist denotation which presupposes neither rational economizing nor conditions of scarcity in its explanation of decision-making pertaining to individuals and collectives, instead the substantivist angle hypothesizes economics as how humans make a living and/or meet needs within their social and natural environments. This perspective defines pre-industrial, pre-capitalistic economies as structured predominantly around the mediums of exchange, redistribution and reciprocity, not market exchange. The substantivist approach, as opposed to the formalist argument, is factual in its analysis.