Economic Mediation and the Power of Associations: Toward a Concept of Encompassment

Examining the incorporation of the Galician fishing sector into the European Community, this analysis seeks to articulate a concept of encompassment. We argue that a European anthropology must develop the theoretical resources and methods to explore the dialectical relationship between structures that are both hierarchically linked and of different magnitudes. In particular, it is necessary to grasp the emergence of new forms of social organization that mediate this relationship. This study seeks to provide an ethnography of such a socially meaningful link.