Scarcity is manufactured by circulation systems, not real material shortage

Evidence

In an essay describing hunter-gatherer peoples with few possessions as the original affluent society, anthropologist Marshall Sahlins reminds us that, “modern capitalist societies, however richly endowed, dedicate themselves to the proposition of scarcity. Inadequacy of economic means is the first principle of the world’s wealthiest peoples.” The shortage is due not to how much material wealth there actually is, but to the way in which it is exchanged or circulated. The market system artificially creates scarcity by blocking the flow between the source and the consumer. Grain may rot in the warehouse while hungry people starve because they cannot pay for it. The result is famine for some and diseases of excess for others. The very earth that sustains us is being destroyed to fuel injustice. An economy that grants personhood to corporations but denies it to the more-than-human beings: this is a Windigo economy. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1391

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Directly extends my Own claim ch7 ‘The market economy is a chosen story, not an inevitable system’ and the gift-value-through-circulation arc.
• XREF: connects to: Most scarcity is socially defined rather than intrinsic to resources — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 387; Scarcity is deliberately manufactured to sustain perceived value. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1879; Attention scarcity is a capitalist construction, not a universal given — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 25 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Manufactured scarcity and disposability sustain value by regulating perceived demand #corroborates (0.90) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1879
• Most scarcity is socially defined rather than intrinsic to resources #corroborates (0.85) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 387
• Scarcity is deliberately manufactured to sustain perceived value. #expands (0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1879
• Mediatized market societies increasingly waste resources producing demand rather than goods #exemplifies (0.80) — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 172
• Attention scarcity is a capitalist construction, not a universal given #exemplifies (0.78) — Annual Review of Anthropology contributors (⚠ verify author line), The Political Economy of Attention, 25
• Markets primarily fabricate felt needs rather than conveying goods to those in need #corroborates (0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 388
• Even renewable resources face depletion when consumption outpaces replenishment #complicates (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2925