Analysis of Geertz's concept of 'shared poverty' has generally been restricted to the case of Java. By examining a newly created peasantry in the highlands of Sulawesi, I challenge the assumptions underlying Geertz's formulation of 'shared poverty' and that of his critics. These critics have questioned the applicability of the concept in a commodified economy, but have accepted its relevance in an increasingly more remote and 'traditional' past. This case study, in contrast, attempts to demonstrate that 'shared poverty' is less a characteristic of a traditional economy, than the product of the differentiation of the peasantry under capitalism. Geertz's original universalistic ethical formulation of the concept is criticized for failing to specify the bounded kin groups within which it applies.