Property Rights and Economic Activity

Widespread sharing of produce is the rule in tribal societies. Some early Western observers therefore concluded that they were &s;communistic&s;, and that individual rights in lands and other goods did not exist. This chapter sets out the objective framework within which goods are produced and distributed for consumption. Our living depends on a wide series of impersonal relationships in the economic and political systems. Differentiation in control over economic resources exists in tribal society but that control must be exercised generously. This spirit of generosity is graphically illustrated in an incident reported by Llewellyn and Hoebel in their book about the law-ways&s; of the Cheyenne (about 4,000 population) of the Great Plains of North America. Social relationships are undifferentiated, for there is little scope for specialization. A man has few specific economic relationships and economic relationships alone, with other men.