Ch. 5 Making a Living Flashcards
Adaptive Strategy
ADAPTIVE STRATEGY is society’s strategy for ECONOMIC PRODUCTION. This is how the society adapts to the changing world to produces what it needs.
- The Most important reason for similarieis between unrelated societies is their possession of a SIMILAR ADAPTIVE STRATEGY because similar economic causes have similar sociacultureal effects.
- Ex: There are clear similarities among societies that have a foraging strategy.
5 Adaptive Strategies:
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FORAGING – Hunting and Gathering with small, mobilepopulations (ALL humans prior to 10,000 years ago)
- Different environments determine the animals hunted or the plants eaten.
- However, all foraging economies hav one thing in common: People rely on nature to make a living
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Foraging survied into modern times in some remote areas, but all are supplemented with some food production and the number of foragers CONTINUES to DECLINE under the influence of GLOBALIZATION.
- Two reasons foraging survived into modern times was that:
- many Environments are not conducive to producing food (deserts, arctic tundra, etc.)
- Foraging provided adequate sustenance with less work than producing food.
- Two reasons foraging survived into modern times was that:
- Foragers tend to live in BANDS – small groups of fewer than 100 people – all related by kinship and marriage.
- Most foraging societies are EGALITARIAN – meaning that differences in prestige are minor and are based on age and gender (rather than on wealth, ability, or celebrity, for example).
- EGALITARIAN BAND – was the basic form of human social life for most of our history. Food production has existed less than 1% of the time Humans have spent time on Earth.
- All modern foragers live in nation-states and depend to some extent on governemnt assistance.
- Bands could stay the same size, but some bands break up for part of the year as resources become sparse.
- Division of labor based on gender.
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HORTICULTURE – Cultivation of small crops with simple tools – the NONINDUSTRIAL form of plant cultivation in which plots lie fallow (unused or unsown) for varying lengths of time.
- Different from Agriculture in that Agriculture refers to the Cultivating of crops AND the breeding of livestock. Horiculture is ONLY cultivation.
- Often uses SLASH-AND-BURN techniques, literraly burning foliage to the ground in order to clear the land and fertilize the soil for planting crops.
- Unfortuantely, Slash-and-burn only sustains the soil for a year or two before it is of no more use for cultivation.
- When a plot is abandoned, another plot is burned and used. In a few years after the forest has retaken the old plot, they may return to that plot by RE-Slashing-and-burning it. This shifting from one plot to another is called SHIFTING CULTIVATION.
- Grows a variety of vegetation in each plot of land – like a garden.
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AGRICULTURE – The intensive and continuous use of land marked by both Cultivation and livestock.
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Agriculture differs from Horticulture in many ways. Agriculture…
- …uses land intensively and continuously while Horticulture uses SHIFTING CULTIVATION
- …requires more labor
- …results in permanent changes to the land, as with IRRIGATION, CANALS, and TERRACING – has control over nature, not having to wait for rain like horticulturalists must.
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Irrigation allows:
- Scheduled planting instead of waiting for the rainy season.
- creates an ecosystem that fertilizes the soil
- possibly carry’s salts, pmaking fields useless after 50-6- years
- …provides a greater long-term yield
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Irrigation allows:
- …relies on just a few staple foods
- …results in sedentary living and larger population densities
- Agriculture requires more labor but provides long-term bounty allowing societies to remain in one place for generations and with a much higher population density.
- The DOWNSIDE of Agriculture is the loss of environmental diversity and deforestation.
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Agriculture differs from Horticulture in many ways. Agriculture…
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PASTORALISM – Herders of livestock
- Pastoralists use their herds for food – dairy, meat, leather.
- But most pastoralists NEED to SUPPLEMENT their diets with additional hunting, gathering, trading, etc.
- PASTORAL NOMADISM – is when the entire society moves with the animals thoughout the year (as with Reindeer herds as they migrate) in search of resources (such as grazing land).
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TRANSHUMANCE – is when only a portion of the pastoral population accompanies their herds of animals while the remainder of their society maintains year-round villages and grows crops (horitculture)
- Pastoral nomads typically trade with more sedentary societies as the move, while TRANSHUMANCE doe not need to do that as they maintain year-round settlements and horticulture.
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Industiralism – discussed in future chapters (Ch. 5 Focuses on the first 4 strategies)
- Workers in industrialized nations are often less satisfied with work becasue teh products they make mostly benefit their employers and they do not have a hand in the completion of the entire product.
- Woman factory workers in Malasia use SPIRIT POSSESSION as “Unconscious Protest”.
Foraging (Adaptive Strategy)
FORAGING – Hunting and Gathering with small, mobile populations (ALL humans prior to 10,000 years ago)
- Different environments determine the animals hunted or the plants eaten.
- However, all foraging economies have one thing in common: People rely on nature to make a living
- Foraging survied into modern times in some remote areas, but all are supplemented with some food production and the number of foragers CONTINUES to DECLINE under the influence of GLOBALIZATION.
- Two reasons foraging survived into modern times was that:
- many environments are not conducive to producing food (deserts, arctic tundra, etc.)
- Foraging provided adequate sustenance with less work than producing food.
- Foragers tend to live in BANDS – small groups of fewer than 100 people – all related by kinship and marriage.
Most foraging societies are EGALITARIAN – meaning that differences in prestige are minor and are based on age and gender (rather than on wealth, ability, or celebrity, for example).
EGALITARIAN BAND – was the basic form of human social life for most of our history. Food production has existed less than 1% of the time Humans have spent time on Earth.
- All modern foragers live in nation-states and depend to some extent on governemnt assistance.
Horticulture (Adaptive Strategy)
HORTICULTURE – Cultivation of small crops with simple tools – the NONINDUSTRIAL form of plant cultivation in which plots lie FALLOW (unused or unsown) for varying lengths of time.
- Different from Agriculture in that Agriculture refers to the Cultivating of crops AND the breeding of livestock. Horiculture is ONLY cultivation.
- Often uses SLASH-AND-BURN techniques, literraly burning foliage to the ground in order to clear the land and fertilize the soil for planting crops.
- Unfortuantely, Slash-and-burn only sustains the soil for a year or two before it is of no more use for cultivation.
When a plot is abandoned, another plot is burned and used. In a few years after the forest has retaken the old plot, they may return to that plot by RE-Slashing-and-burning it. This shifting from one plot to another is called SHIFTING CULTIVATION.
- Horticulturalists grow a variety of vegetation in each plot of land – like a garden.
Agriculture (Adaptive Strategy)
AGRICULTURE – The intensive and continuous use of land marked by both Cultivation and livestock.
Agriculture DIFFERS from Horticulture in many ways. Agriculture…
- …uses land intensively and continuously while Horticulture uses SHIFTING CULTIVATION
- …requires more labor
- …results in permanent changes to the land, as with IRRIGATION, CANALS, and TERRACING – has control over nature, not having to wait for rain like horticulturalists must.
- …provides a greater long-term yield
- …relies on just a few staple foods
- …results in sedentary living and larger population densities
- Agriculture requires more labor but provides long-term bounty allowing societies to remain in one place for generations and with a much higher population density.
The DOWNSIDE of Agriculture is the loss of environmental diversity and deforestation.
Pastoralism (Adaptive Strategy)
PASTORALISM – Herders of livestock – Pastoralists use their herds for food – dairy, meat, leather.
- But most pastoralists NEED to SUPPLEMENT their diets with additional hunting, gathering, trading, etc.
- PASTORAL NOMADISM – is when the entire society moves with the animals thoughout the year (as with Reindeer herds as they migrate) in search of resources (such as grazing land).
- TRANSHUMANCE – is when only a portion of the pastoral population accompanies their herds of animals while the remainder of their society maintains year-round villages and grows crops (horitculture)
Pastoral nomads typically trade with more sedentary societies as the move, while TRANSHUMANCE do not need to do that as they maintain year-round settlements and horticulture.
Pastoral Nomadism
PASTORAL NOMADISM – is when the entire society moves with the animals thoughout the year (as with Reindeer herds as they migrate) in search of resources (such as grazing land).
In contrast with…
TRANSHUMANCE – is when only a portion of the pastoral population accompanies their herds of animals while the remainder of their society maintains year-round villages and grows crops (horitculture)
Pastoral nomads typically trade with more sedentary societies as the move, while TRANSHUMANCE do not need to do that as they maintain year-round settlements and horticulture.
Transhumance
TRANSHUMANCE – is when only a portion of the pastoral population accompanies their herds of animals while the remainder of their society maintains year-round villages and grows crops (horitculture)
In contrast with…
PASTORAL NOMADISM – is when the entire society moves with the animals thoughout the year (as with Reindeer herds as they migrate) in search of resources (such as grazing land).
Pastoral nomads typically trade with more sedentary societies as the move, while TRANSHUMANCE do not need to do that as they maintain year-round settlements and horticulture.
Fallow
FALLOW is when a plot of land is left unused or unsown in order to allow it to replenish it’s nutrients for future cultivation.
- Horticulturalists cultivate land in which plots lie FALLOW for varying langths of time.
Slash-and-Burn
SLASH-AND-BURN techniques, literraly burning foliage to the ground in order to clear the land and fertilize the soil for planting crops.
- Unfortuantely, Slash-and-burn only sustains the soil for a year or two before it is of no more use for cultivation and so the land must be left FALLOW for several years.
Shifting Cultivation
SHIFTING CULTIVATION refers to the shifting from one plot of land to another after the original plot of land is used and left FALLOW. the HORTICULTURALIST SHIFTS to a new plot of land, which is slashed-and-burned while the original plot is retaken by forest. Years later, the Horticulturalists may return to the original plot by RE-Slashing-and-burning it. This shifting from one plot to another is called SHIFTING CULTIVATION.
Egalitarian Bands
BANDS – small groups of fewer than 100 people – all related by kinship and marriage. Foragers tend to live in BANDS.
EGALITARIAN – meaning that differences in prestige are minor and are based on age and gender (rather than on wealth, ability, or celebrity, for example).
- Most foraging societies are EGALITARIAN.
EGALITARIAN BANDS – was the basic form of human social life for most of our history. Food production has existed less than 1% of the time Humans have spent time on Earth.
Where do People allocate their Scarce Resources?
People accross cultures allocate their scarce resources to an array of uses:
SUBSISTENCE FUND – People work to eat (Survival)
REPLACEMENT FUND – Technology and tools must be maintained (Maintenance)
SOCIAL FUND – to Help friends and family (Charity)
CEREMONIAL FUND – Provide for celebration and memorial (Rituals)
RENT FUND – pay for use of property (Land use)
Peasants and Rent Funds
PEASANTS are small-scale agriculturists who live in NONindustrual states and have RENT FUND obligations. They produce to feed themselves, to sell their produce, and to pay rent (Sounds like a small farmer to me).
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All peasants have two things in common
- They live in state organized societies
- They produce food without elaborate technology (chemical fertilizers, tractors, crop-sprayers, etc.)
RENT FUND – pay for use of property (Land use)
- The RENT FUND is not simply an additional obligatioin as we might think of rent in developed nations, instead it istheir FOREMOST and UNAVOIDABLE duty. Sometimes their own diets suffer as a result.
Principles of Exchange
PRINCIPLE OF EXCHANGE refers to the allocation of resources in a society. There are three main types, and though all of them could be used in a society, one of them usually dominates.
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MARKET PRINCIPLE governs the distribution of the means of production – land, labor, natural resources, technology and capital. With market exchange, items are bought and sold, using money, with an eye on MAXIMIZING PROFIT. Value is determined by SUPPLY AND DEMAND (Things cost more the scarcer theyare and the more people want them).
- The Market Principle dominates in today’s capitalist ecomonmies (USA)
REDISTRIBUTION is the movemnet of goods and services from the local level to a center. From this central location, the good are eventually REDISTRIBUTED back to the common people.
- The Redistribution Principle is used in chiefdoms, archaic societies and some countries with managed economies (socialist/communist).
RECIPROCITY is the exchange between social equals who are normally related by kinship or marriage.
- The Reciprocity Principle is among equals and dominant in more EGALITARIAN societies such as foragers, cultivators, and pastorialists.
- Three degrees of Reciprocity measured on a continuum based on how closely related the parties are to the exchange and how quickly and unselfishly the gifts are reciprocated:
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GENERALIZED RECIPROCITY – purest form – exchanged between closely related people. Someone give to another person and expects nothing in return (Ex: Giving a gift to your child)
- Such giving is also a part of many EGALITARIAN societies.
- Expressions of gratitude are rare as that would imply that the act of sharing was unusual.
- BALANCED RECIPROCITY – less related with a decreased need to reciprocate. This gift is given and something is expected in return – eventually.
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NEGATIVE RECIPROCITY – least related with reciprocity being the most calculated (meaning the least selfless). In general, Negative Reciprocity is a commercial exchange – someone gives you something with the expectation of someting immediately in return – like a purchase of goods.
- Negative Reciprocity can even be criminal behavior. A tribe raids a neighboring tribes cattle and sure enough there will be reciprocity as the attacked tribe will attack back.
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GENERALIZED RECIPROCITY – purest form – exchanged between closely related people. Someone give to another person and expects nothing in return (Ex: Giving a gift to your child)
Potlatching
POTLATCH is a is a festival among tribes on the North Pacific Coast of North America where members of the communities GIVE AWAY food, blankets, pieces of copper, and other WEALTH and IN RETURN, they RECEIVED only PRESTIGE.
- Believing theat material wealth maximization was the key driver from everyone, the POTLATCH had been deemed an “Economically IRRATIONAL drive for Prestige” by some idiot economist and social commentator.
- The RATIONALIZATION for this ‘irrational’ behavior was that “Customs such as the POTLATCH are CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS to alternating periods of local abundance and shortage. In other words, one year a village with great abundance might share with one that was not quite so fortunate while the next year, the other village had great bounty and was able to return the favor.
