BEYOND THE ORIGINAL AFFLUENT SOCIETY - A CULTURALIST REFORMULATION

This paper examines Marshall Sahlins's "Original Affluent Society" in relation to recent developments in modern hunter-gatherer studies and reveals a theoretical confusion of ecological and cultural perspectives within it which has hitherto been overlooked. Drawing comparatively on three case studies-the Nayaka of South India, the Batek of Malaysia, and the Mbuti of Zaire-it then reformulates Sahlins's argument using the culturalist method of economic analysis. At the same time it demonstrates the explanatory and analytical dimensions of this new method.