Scarcity: Manufacturing a Sense of Lack

Tools of Oppression in Relationships

This article is part of my Tools of Oppression in Relationships series. Click here to start from the beginning.

Scarcity, the belief that resources are inherently limited, is a foundation of power-over systems. It fuels competition, justifies inequality, and stokes the flames of fear. Scarcity mindset is often manufactured, designed to create division and compliance. This mindset exploits primal instincts and psychological vulnerabilities, creating conflict in both micro and macro relationships.

Shifting Away from Scarcity’s Evolutionary Roots

The scarcity mindset has roots in human evolution. Early humans faced genuine resource scarcity, particularly because groups were isolated, lacking connectedness and knowledge. In such conditions, survival required vigilance and a prioritization of immediate needs over long-term considerations.

Scarcity triggers fear of deprivation, an evolutionary response that heightened early humans’ ability to survive periods of famine or drought. This fear encouraged hoarding to ensure survival through lean times, amplified territorial instincts that lead to competition over scarce resources, and reinforced in-group loyalty, as sharing with outsiders could threaten familial survival.

While these behaviors were adaptive in the context of the scarcity faced by our ancestors, they persist in modern times, even when scarcity is manufactured or imagined. For example, modern humans stockpile wealth, possessions, and food during perceived crises, even when resources are abundant, reinforcing inequality and mistrust.

Even though scarcity mindset has roots in our evolutionary history, its relevance continues to diminish as humanity becomes more interconnected. In a globalized world, the challenges we face – climate change, resource distribution, public health crises – demand cooperation and collaboration on an unprecedented scale. As our actions increasingly impact one another, humanity begins to resemble a single organism, where collective survival depends on harmonious relationships rather than competition over perceived scarcity. While these instincts might have been useful for survival in harsh environments, they now exacerbate systemic inequities and environmental degradation. This is a classic case of “when you know better, do better.”

Historically, localized scarcity drove competition between small groups for survival. However, today’s interconnected world reveals the inefficiency of this approach:

• Shared challenges: Environmental degradation affects global ecosystems. Deforestation in the Amazon impacts climate patterns worldwide, underscoring the need for collective stewardship rather than isolated action.

• Global resource flow: Goods, services, and information are now able to cross oceans at unprecedented speeds. Hoarding resources within one nation or community disrupts global supply chains, harming everyone.

• Wastefulness: Scarcity mindset leads to waste. When countries hoard resources for their smaller populations, they create an imbalance that fosters wastefulness. Food, water, and energy are overconsumed or discarded at alarming rates in some nations, while others with larger populations struggle to meet basic needs. This dynamic perpetuates global inequality, as the hoarding of resources by a few leaves many with less, exacerbating the very scarcity narrative that drove the imbalance in the first place.

• Technological interdependence: Advances in technology aid in international cooperation. From medical research to renewable energy, breakthroughs depend on shared knowledge and collaboration.

As humanity’s interconnectedness intensifies, scarcity mindset, rooted in isolated survival, is increasingly maladaptive, fostering division where unity is necessary.

In many ways, humanity functions like a single organism. Just as cells in a body communicate, share resources, and adapt to maintain balance, humans are now linked through shared ecosystems, economies, and technologies. A single decision – such as a large corporation choosing to reduce emissions – can influence global markets, environmental policies, and societal behaviors. The ease of communication and travel connects people across vast distances, creating opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration. Challenges like pandemics and climate change highlight how individual and collective actions intertwine, requiring us to prioritize the health of the “organism” over localized self-interest.

The evolutionary instincts that once prioritized in-group survival now hinder our ability to address global challenges. Hoarding resources, competing over land and water, and focusing on short-term gains no longer serve a world where humanity’s well-being is so interdependent. To thrive as a global community, we must shift from competition to cooperation, recognizing that shared success benefits all. We must embrace abundance thinking, focusing on regenerative solutions that sustain collective needs. And we must foster trust across borders, cultures, and systems, building relationships that prioritize mutual prosperity.

Manufactured Scarcity in Social Contexts

Scarcity is most effective as a tool of oppression when it is manufactured – when people are made to believe that resources, opportunities, or connections are more limited than they truly are. This narrative keeps individuals in survival mode, competing rather than cooperating, and justifies inequality by framing success as inherently exclusive.

Scarcity narratives frame education, healthcare, and housing as limited, fueling competition for access and reinforcing systemic exclusion. This manufactured sense of lack pits marginalized groups against each other, perpetuating the idea that resources, recognition, and justice must be rationed because there is not enough to go around. Even suffering becomes commodified, as the so-called “oppression olympics” suggest that attention to one community’s needs diminishes the legitimacy or urgency of another’s.

Scarcity manifests in the belief that love, attention and validation must be earned and are finite, creating dynamics of control and insecurity. Public narratives often portray empathy or care as resources that must be rationed because helping one group is framed as neglecting another.

Scarcity leads to fear which leads to behaviors that isolate and alienate individuals from one another, reinforcing oppressive systems. Wealthy groups often oppose policies like progressive taxation or public healthcare, fearing the redistribution of resources will diminish their own security. Nations stockpile natural resources, such as water and fossil fuels, at the expense of equitable distribution or environmental sustainability. Scarcity discourages risk-taking and innovation, as people focus on preserving what they have rather than exploring possibilities for mutual growth.

Scarcity Is Obsolete

Scarcity insidiously isolates us. Where fear divides through threats and competition through rivalry, scarcity isolates by making people feel alone in their struggles. It fosters mistrust and hoarding, ensuring that individuals view their survival as separate from – and even in conflict with – others.

Scarcity exploits obsolete instincts. Our evolutionary roots primed us to see resources as limited because humans had limited information at the time. This reinforced hoarding and territoriality as survival mechanisms. However, as humans have evolved, so too has our interconnectedness. Modern challenges, such as climate change and systemic inequality, reveal how deeply our lives are intertwined. Scarcity narratives no longer serve us; instead, they hinder our ability to think and act collectively.

To survive and flourish, we must shift from thinking of ourselves as individuals battling for finite resources to recognizing humanity as a whole, interconnected organism. Only by dismantling the isolating effects of scarcity can we build relationships and systems that prioritize trust, collaboration, and shared prosperity.

Click here to read the next article in the series - Exclusivity: Creating In-Groups & Out-Groups