The article presents one of the montagnard societies of Thailand, the Hmong, and considers the traditional and the modern patterns of wealth. A set of observations of the visible signs of wealth in one village is further developed by a detailed appraisal of the economic performance for the year 1991. A synthesis of data reveals that within the context of a more and more complete integration with the market economy and the increasing monetarization of exchanges, the maintenance, and even the augmentation, of household wealth seems to be tied to the ownership of the means of production to the detriment of the customary cooperation within the lineage. The possessors of these means grow well-off — or, at least, have the means to do so — while those lacking them are, at best, in a phase of economic stagnation which mutual help cannot suffice to overcome. The result is necessarily a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor.

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