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The Original Affluent Society and the Culture of Scarcity

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  • Nicholas Xenos

    (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Abstract

Marshall Sahlins’s “The Original Affluent Society” challenged the assumption that all of human history has witnessed a struggle between needs and insufficient means to satisfy them, arguing that hunter-gatherer societies demonstrate instead a “Zen road to affluence” produced by limited needs relatively easily satisfied. I argue that this formulation can help to deflate the claim, often being made around the time Sahlins wrote his essay, that capitalism has produced the means to overcome scarcity, which was seen by some as an ideological construct. Instead, through an account of the writings of Adam Smith and David Hume, I show the dynamic role that the production of new needs plays in constituting a culture of scarcity that cannot be so easily dispatched.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicholas Xenos, 2021. "The Original Affluent Society and the Culture of Scarcity," Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy), vol. 55(1), pages 55-70, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:fle:journl:v:55:y:2021:i:1:p:55-70
    DOI: 10.26331/1133
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    Keywords

    Needs; Scarcity; Social Emulation; Marshall Sahlins; Karl Polanyi; C.B. Macpherson; Adam Smith; David Hume;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals

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