Subsistence, Economy, and Distribution: How Humans Do It Making A Living Subsistence, Economy, and Distribution: How Humans Do It

Survival of Those Who Eat All cultures must solve certain problems Control people’s behavior Pass on traditions Mate Rear children Procure food from environment

Importance of Subsistence Securing food is critical Human survival without food Systematic and regular food procurement

Subsistence Strategy The pattern of behavior Used by a society To obtain food In a particular environment

Economic Production as an Adaptive Strategy Food is necessary for survival; the means of subsistence of a given group has been called their adaptive strategy. Five adaptive strategies: foraging, horticultural, agriculture, pastoralism, and industrialism.

Human Adaptation Human adjustment to environment Influence on people and culture Cultural influence on environment

Human Adaptation Continued Cultural adaptation Cultural ecology Ecological Functionalism Response to cold climates Fire Clothes Eating more fats and carbs

Biological Adaptation Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey Chukchi

“Sophisticated” Technology Better adaptation to environment? Environment and technology Eskimo groups and wolves Wolves- dangerous environmental feature

Terms and Concepts Carrying Capacity Optimal Foraging Theory Environmental factors set an upper limit Productivity of any food getting system Size of population possible to support Optimal Foraging Theory Foragers will choose animals and plants Maximize caloric return For time spent searching, killing, collecting, and preparing Ex. Ache of Paraguay

Foraging (a.k.a. Hunting and Gathering) Foraging was the only means of subsistence for the first 5 million years of human history. Hunting and gathering continued to exist after the multiple inventions of agriculture in those areas ill suited to growing crops.

What is Foraging? Fishing, hunting, and collecting vegetable food.

The Importance of Gathering For much of the 20th century, anthropologists assumed hunting was more important than gathering. Subsequent ethnographic work showed plant resources usually make up 80% of the diet.

Foragers live off the land, usually in small groups called “bands” Because foragers are highly mobile and frequently live in marginal environments, they tend to live in groups of 100 or less. This mobile lifestyle leads to temporary housing structures.

Other Forager Characteristics or Correlates Most members of bands related. Practice band exogamy. Membership of band may change during the course of a year. Practice seasonal transhumance. Egalitarian. Sexual division of labor. Original “affluent society”- Sahlins.

Examples of Foragers California Indians (balanophagy). Great Basin Indians (Paiute, Shoshone, Ute). Inuit (a.k.a. Eskimos). Australian Aborigines. !Kung San of South Africa. Baka.

Foragers

Cultivation Cultivation is food production rather than food gathering. The three forms of food production are horticulture, agriculture, and pastoralism. Horticulture and agriculture focus on plant resource production; pastoralism focuses on herding and “harvesting” their animals.

What is horticulture? Horticulture is the small-scale planting and harvesting of food plants using simple tools and small garden plots. Horticulturalists frequently use swidden or “slash-and-burn” techniques for fertilization of the soil. Shifting cultivation common.

Slash-and-Burn Horticulture

Location of World Horticulturalists

Advantages and Disadvantages of Horticulture Can sustain large groups (example: Kuikuru of South America). Allows for flexible sedentism (staying in one place). Disadvantages: Limited carrying capacity. Leads to rapid soil exhaustion.

Horticultural Groups Yanomami. The tribes of Papua New Guinea. The Maya of Mexico. Hawaiian Islanders Various Bantu-speaking tribes of Africa.

Agriculture Differs from horticulture in that it is more labor intensive, uses more sophisticated tools (such as plows), engages the use of draft animals, may use terracing, and employs irrigation. More land is used, and greater quantities of crops are produced.

Domesticated Animals and Farming Domesticated animals (cattle and horses) have played an important role in raising crops, providing both labor (plowing) and fertilizer.

Costs and Benefits of Agriculture Human labor input greater for agriculture, time and energy required to build and maintain canals and terraces as well as to feed and care for animals. Yields are much greater with agriculture over horticulture Provides long-term, dependable crops that translates to lower labor costs per unit.

Intensive Agriculture Intensive agriculture allows for large populations. However, large populations combined with intensive agricultural practices result in extreme environmental degradation. Intensive agriculture often leads to specialization in certain crops (i.e., rice, maize, potatoes), thereby sacrificing dietary diversity.

Intensive Agriculture Gone Wrong The ancient Maya civilization collapsed about A.D. 800 A combination of agricultural intensification and population growth

Pastoralism Pastoralists are herders Focus on animals such as goats, sheep, cattle, camels, and yaks. Traditional pastoralists are found in parts of north and eastern Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

Pastoralism as a living Pastoralists use their herds for food (milk, blood, meat). Pastoralists frequently trade with farmers for grains and vegetables, or may engage in limited horticulture or foraging. Pastoralists practice pastoral nomadism (the whole group moves) or transhumance (only certain members of the group follow the herd animals).

Industrialism Large scale, industrial production, involving factories and mechanization. Industrialism relies on corporate agriculture.

Correlates of Foraging Exogamy- Expanded Kin Network Mobility: Adaptive strategy Egalitarian- Contrasts in Status Minor Status based on age and gender Ownership- Land Not Owned Flexible or open borders Follow migratory patterns of animals Claiming and defending territory- resources Territoriality leads to conflict and warfare

Examples Inuit- Canada (open) Ju/’hoansi- Kalahari (flexible) Food scarce= Open or flexible Food plentiful= Greater control

Correlates of Horticulturalists Land: Communally Controlled Farmers must be in good standing Must work the land Example: Samoans of Polynesia “Matai” holds land title Other family members work the land

Correlates of Pastoralists Require extensive territory Marginal environment- free access Not so marginal- greater control over land Extremes in land ownership East African vs. Middle East

Correlates of Intensive Agriculture Permanent use of land Property Rights Buy, sell, rent, lease Wrong Questions during ethnography East African horticulturalists “Who owns that brown cow?” Swahili- no word for own I am with- nina

Continued- Correlates of Agriculture Occupational Specialization Sedentary Lifestyle Rise of Urban Centers Civilization

Chapter 6 Economics Classic Economic Theory Ultimate Dictator Results Individuals act rationally To maximize profits Ultimate Dictator Dictator game Ultimatum game Proposers and Responders Results Tendency toward generosity Culture affects economic activity Chapter 6 Economics

Definitions Economy or Economic System Economics System of production, distribution, and consumption of resources Economics -Study of the systems of production, distribution, and consumption Tends to study modern nations Capitalist systems Anthropologists- non-industrial economies Economic Anthropology- comparative perspective

Definitions Continued Division of Labor- The pattern of apportioning different tasks to different members of a society. Gender, age, caste In all human societies, some tasks are considered appropriate for women and others appropriate for men. At some level, the sexual division of labor is biological since only women can bear and nurse children. Caring for infants is almost always a female role and usually central to female identity.

Specialization in Complex Societies The division of labor becomes more specialized as the population increases and agricultural production intensifies. Occupational specialization spreads as individuals are able to exchange services or products for food and wealth. Specialists- soldiers, government officials, members of the priesthood, artisans, craftsmen, merchants.

Questions Economic Anthropologists Ask How are production, distribution, and consumption organized in different societies? What motivates people in different societies to produce, distribute, and consume? Classic Economic Theory Wants are infinite Means are limited People must choose how to use resources Resources such as time, money, labor People will choose to maximize profit There may be other goals than maximizing profit

Goals other than maximizing profit Prestige- status, social honor, respect Linked to: Increased consumption Display of goods and services Generosity Pleasure, comfort, social harmony, personal ambition, family ambition etc.

Production Five Adaptive Strategies Foraging Horticulture Pastoralism Agriculture Industrialism

Distribution- Patterns of Exchange Reciprocity Redistribution Market

Types of Reciprocity Generalized: Distribution of goods with no specific return expected Buying a friend a drink/birthday present Balanced: Exchange of goods of equal value, with an obligation to return them Buying at a supermarket/Christmas gift exchange Negative: Exchange conducted for material advantage Neighbor’s car

Activity With a partner, on a single sheet of paper, discuss and write down instances from each of your own lives where you remember using balanced, generalized, and negative reciprocity. Provide specific examples of each type of reciprocity.

Generalized Reciprocity Generalized reciprocity involving food is an important social mechanism among foraging peoples. Hunters distribute meat among members of the kin group or camp. Each person or family gets an equal share or a share dependent on its kinship relationship to the hunter.

Generalized Reciprocity Hunters gain satisfaction from accomplishing a highly skilled and difficult task. Because all people in the society are bound by the same rules, the system gives them all opportunity to give and receive.

Balanced Reciprocity Involves greater social distance and includes the obligation to return within a reasonable time limit goods of nearly equal value to those given Characteristic of trading relations among non-industrialized peoples without market economies

Kula Ring Pattern of exchange among trading partners in the Trobriands and other South Pacific islands The kula trade moves two types of prestige goods from island to island. Soulava (necklaces of red shell) Mwali (bracelets of white shell)

Kula Ring Kula trading partnerships are lifelong affairs, and their details are fixed by tradition.

Redistribution Exchange in which goods are collected from members of the group and then redistributed to the group.

Leveling Mechanism A practice, value, or form of social organization that evens out wealth in a society If generosity rather than the accumulation of wealth is the basis for prestige, those who desire prestige will distribute much of their wealth.

Potlatch A form of redistribution involving competitive feasting practiced among Northwest Coast Native Americans

Cargo System A ritual system common in Central and South America in which wealthy people are required to hold a series of costly ceremonial offices

Market Exchange Economic system in which goods and services are bought and sold at a price determined by supply and demand Impersonal and occurs without regard to the social position of the participants When this is the key economic institution, social and political goals are less important than financial goals.

Capitalism Economic system in which: People work for wages Land and goods are privately owned Capital is invested for individual profit A small part of the population owns most of the resources or capital goods.

Socialism and Communism From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. Communal ownership with ownership ascribed to the state/government. Socialism- From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution. Communal ownership with ownership ascribed to workers.

Comparison