[..] production of goods in primitive societies is simple. People make what they need out of the material at hand. Distribution is complex because it entails complicated systems of reciprocity and redistribution[..]. These processes are important because they function to maintain the social integration and cohesion of primitive societies. In complex modern societies, the process is reversed. Production becomes complex because of the complicated fabrication networks that are involved in producing even the simplest commodity. Distribution however is simple. The finished product is conveyed to a store where one only has to go to purchase it, and economic integration is attained through market principles.

Donald V. Kurtz, Political Anthropology: Power and Paradigms