The term affluence plays a important role in interpreting the both hunting and gathering societies and modern consumer societies. With the common notion, a society which all the peoples material wants are easily satisfied is affluent. However, the notion is not acceptable for both societies. There are two possible way to be affluent according to Shalins. Firstly, wants may be easily satisfied either by producing much or desiring little, which is familiar with the Galbraithean way. In this way, peoples wants are great, while their means are limited, and industrial productivity can narrow the gap between means and ends. Secondly, there is a Zen road to affluence, which is that wants are few, and technical means are fixed. The hunters economic behavior seems to be prodigality since hunter consumes everything that hunter have at once. From this perspective, hunters economic tendencies may be more affluent that modern market economy. However, there are some arguments that deny that hunter are affluent since hunter have no time for leisure, and hunter have to explore for food, seeming hunter to be poor. As for modern consumer societies, people, conversely, take advantage of these
scarcity or inadequacy of the societies. The other term scarcity is also important to understand both societies. In modern consumer societies, people do economic activity to improve societies of scarcity with technological advances. The notion of scarcity means not an intrinsic property of technical means but a relation between means and ends. In other words, the perspective of scarcity is different depending on a relation between means and ends within the societies. In addition to these terms of affluence and scarcity, the terms wants and needs are also helpful in order to look at goods from both points of view of two societies. Wants means things that you do not have but would like to have, whereas needs implies thing that you have to have to survive. Accordingly, this paper is intended to examine how goods are differently perceived in hunting-gathering societies and modern consumer societies paying attention to the notion of affluence and scarcity. First, I will outline goods in both hunting-gathering and modern consumer societies. Then, I will examine the goods differently perceived focusing on values of goods. Finally, I will conclude the difference of both societies.