Chapter 6 Flashcards
agriculture
a subsistence system that requires constant and intensive use of permanent fields for plant cultivation.
articulation
the strategic use of several modes of subsistence at the same time.
balanced reciprocity
a form of exchange in which roughly equivalent goods or services are exchanged immediately, or within a relatively short amount of time, with or without the use of money.
biomass
all living things, plants and animals, contained in and supported by a particular area of land.
economic anthropology
the study of how people meet needs through production, exchange, and consumption.
ethnocide
the death of a culture when its members shift to a different way of life, even as the people group survives.
exchange systems
social processes by which people give and receive goods and services.
exchange systems
social processes by which people give and receive goods and services.
extensive farming
farming practices that involve putting relatively little energy into the land for the calories extracted.
fissioning
splitting a group into numerous smaller groups. A practice used by foragers to maintain group size and reduce interpersonal conflict.
fissioning
splitting a group into numerous smaller groups. A practice used by foragers to maintain group size and reduce interpersonal conflict.
foraging
a subsistence strategy based on gathering plants that grow wild in the environment and hunting available animals.
formalist theory
an economic theory that teaches that the logic people use to pursue economic goals is culturally universal and can be explained by universal economic models.
generalized reciprocity
a form of exchange involving gift exchanges with no precise accounting of value and no precise expectation for type or time of return.
genocide
the systematic killing of most members of a culture.
horticulture
a subsistence strategy in which people cultivate varieties of wild or domesticated crops, primarily for their own use, using relatively little technology.
intensive farming
agricultural or horticultural techniques that directly replenish the nutrients in the soil, producing marginally higher crop yields.
leveling mechanism
a redistribution process that reduces social inequality.
market economy
a system of exchange in which people exchange their labor (physical, mental, creative, etc.) for money, which is exchanged for goods and services.
monocropping
growing one species of plant in a garden or field.
multicropping
growing several species of plants in a single garden.
negative reciprocity
a form of exchange in which one or both parties seek to receive more than they give.
nomadic pastoralism
a form of pastoralism that involves moving animals in response to food and water supply.
pastoralism
a subsistence strategy based on the use of domesticated herd animals.
potlatch
a form of redistribution and exchange traditionally practiced by Pacific Northwest Native American groups.
production
any human action intended to convert resources in the environment into food.
