"The greatest modern authority on hunter-gatherer egalitarianism is, by general consent, the British anthropologist James Woodburn"
"Woodburn adds a twist" to our understanding of hunter-gatherer societies, "the real defining feature of such societies is, precisely, the lack of any material surplus"
"Truly egalitarian societies, for Woodburn, are those with 'immediate return' economies: food brought home is eaten the same day or the next; anything extra is shared out, but never preserved or stored. All this is in stark contrast to most foragers, and all pastoralists of farmers, who can be characterized as having 'delayed return' economies, regularly investing their energies in projects that only bear fruit at some point in the future. Such investments, he argues, inevitably lead to ongoing ties that can become the basis for some individuals to exercise power over others"
the Hadza (Tanzania); the San Bushmen and Mbuti Pygmies; the Pandaram (South India) and Batek (Malaysia)
Graeber and Wengrow note, however, that this suggests that "any equality worth the name is essentially impossible for all but the very simplest foragers," an argument that (as utopian thinkers) they are ultimately impatient with