This disertation is a study of the Kipsigis society in the colonial period. The Kipsigis live in the Kericho district of Kenya which was under British colonial rule from 1895 to 1963. Although the district has three divisions--Sot, Buret, and Belgut--only Buret and Belgut have been studied, largely because together they form an agree-able entity and had similar experiences during the colonial period. The focus has been on the process of interaction between colonial capitalism and a rural non-capitalist society. This has been done by examining the development of a monetized economy, the introduction of new marketable agricultural products, and the rise of differentiation in the area as a result of new sources cf revenue, such as wage labor on plantations and "native" farmer participation in tea growing, set In motion by the advent of colonialism. The study has been carried out as a contribution to the understanding of the present-day economic and social conditions of the poorer countries of the world, particularly those areas that were formally colonised. In economic terms, the world is today divided into the developed capitalist countries of Northern Europe, U.S.A. and Canada; the developed socialist countries; and what has come to be known as the Third World, sometimes called underdeveloped tr less developed economies of Latin America, Asia and Africa.