Stone Age Economics [Paperback]

Marshall Sahlins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 1974

Stone Age Economics is a classic study of anthropological economics, first published in 1974. As Marshall Sahlins stated in the first edition, "It has been inspired by the possibility of 'anthropological economics,' a perspective indebted rather to the nature of the primitive economies than to the categories of a bourgeois science." Ambitiously tackling the nature of economic life and how to study it comparatively, the book includes six studies which reflect the author's ideas on revising traditional views of the hunter-gatherer and so-called primitive societies, revealing them to be the original affluent society. The book examines notions of production, distribution and exchange in early communities and examines the link between economics and cultural and social factors. It consists of a set of detailed and closely related studies of tribal economies, of domestic production for livelihood, and of the submission of domestic production to the material and political demands of society at large.

Marshall Sahlins is one of the most prominent American anthropologists of our time. He holds the title of Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. His most recent book is How Natives Think: About Captain Cook, for Example.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book is subversive to so many of the fundamental assumptions of Western technological society that it is a wonder it was permitted to be published. Calling on extensive research among the planet's remaining stone-age societies—in Africa, Australia and South-East Asia as well as anecdotal reports from early explorers, Professor Sahlins directly challenges the idea that Western civiliation has provided greater 'leisure' or 'affluence,' or even greater reliability, than 'primitive' hunter-gatherers."

—Whole Earth Review

"His book is rich in factual evidence and in ideas, so rich that a brief review cannot do it justice; only another book could do that."

—E. Evans-Pritchard, Times Literary Supplement

"Sahlin's concept of the 'domestic mode of production' starts to give economic anthropology its necessary comparative basis."

—Mary Douglas

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Aldine Transaction (December 31, 1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0202010996
• ISBN-13: 978-0202010991
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars interesting antropological economics, May 4, 2001

By 

Willem Noe "scorpio-1" (Berlin) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stone Age Economics (Paperback)

This is a well-known and rather old (1972) classic work on the economics of exchange as a cultural phenomenon. I remember this book was quoted several times during my studies of economics (and that was in the early 80s). I always kept the idea that as an economist I actually should read it myself, and so now i finally did.

The book is written from an anthropological angle and claims that stone age economies were the original affluent society. The claim is startling as it is original, as it runs counterintuitive; weren't people in early primitive (as defined by level of societal complexity) communities not always on the border of starvation and their needs much unfulfilled? Here the author points out that in the central concept of economics, scarcity, or the tension between wants and means, can be reduced either from the supply side (which is what modern production and exchange economies do) or on the demand side, the Zen way to happiness so to speak, by not having much of any demand. Within their own context such hunter-gatherer societies were therefore quite well-off and not on the brink of disaster. To have high wealth in the form of goods was simply not practical in this way of life as you had to carry all of it around hence slowing you down. Similarly, there was often an under-use of resources rather than a constant bumping against existence limits. Of course, there were very real Malthusian limits also as a result of the societal organization. Nevertheless, the point on scarcity is well made and can be seen as a (mild) critique of consumer society. It also bring the social and cultural context in which economics plays to the fore. At the same time, the author discusses the role of gift exchange in return for other goods as a social phenomenon next to the purely economic terms of exchange. Gifts and trade rather than war has a very real meaning in societies and is especially tangible in less complex groups, somethinh he shows in true antropologist fashion by referring to some interesting studies of several small societies in Africa and Polynesia.

The same idea also of course holds for more developed nations, but here the direct social relationships among and between much larger groups is much more anonymous and diffused.

I am an economist, not an anthroplogist, and found it very interesting to read this well-written and sometimes humorous book in order to realise once again how economics is a social science in the true sense of the word. Nothing to be ashamed about, and it is always good as a refresher to read from different angles on the fundamentals of your own profession.

recommended.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A seminal work of economics. Required reading., July 10, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Stone Age Economics (Hardcover)

This superb work discusses the types of economic organization which currently exist and which have existed throughout human history (and into pre-history). It then shows the effect of such economic organizations on social structure.

This book should be required reading for all students of economics, as it has major implications for our own societies today.

Stone Age Economics is also a very interesting and readable text, not at all dry or boring. It is filled with information about various cultures and interesting details such as the fact that the hunter-gatherer Bushmen in the Kalihari desert spend only about 1 1/2 hours per day on staying alive, and spend the rest of the time singing, drinking and telling stories.

This is a truly important work.

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Darker Side of the Original Affluent Society, December 19, 2002

By 

ingonyama "ingonyama" (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Stone Age Economics (Paperback)

I highly recommend this book for reasons mentioned by other reviewers. But...the data Sahlins uses to make his argument about the "Original Affluent Society" have been called into question on multiple grounds, notably 1) inadequate time-depth, 2) a restrictive definition of "work," and 3) contrary evidence suggesting that many foragers suffer from malnutrition. See David Kaplan, "The Darker Side of the Original Affluent Society," in the Journal of Anthropological Research (2001).