Stone Age Economics
First published in 1974, Marshall Sahlins' Stone Age Economics challenges that Western societies are more conducive to leisure and prosperity than traditional stone-age cultures. Using evidence from primitive cultures in Africa, Australia, and Asia, Sahlins argues that these hunter-gatherers live a more fulfilling life because they are not concerned with material possessions. While Western societies view scarcity as the basis of unhappiness, scarcity in stone-age societies is precisely what drives hunter-gatherers to live an abundant and "affluent" life.
Sahlins claims that an affluent society is one where "people's material wants are easily satisfied." How, then, in a culture of unlimited wants can Western society be deemed affluent? Western cultures desire everything, yet means are limited leaving the average person perpetually unsatisfied. If there are fewer items to desire, there is a smaller gap between what a person wants and what he can have. This is how......
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