Subsistence and Economy

Subsistence and Economy
Week 4

There are two main subsistence patterns.  The first one is hunter-gatherers and the second pattern is the agriculture.  There are positive and negative aspects to both patterns.

1. Hunter-gathers have a more nutritional food base. Agriculture societies tend to grow only a few specialized crops,  Hunter and gatherers have a wide range of nutritional food available to them. This keeps them more healthy because of a balanced diet. Hunters and gathers work less hours per week.  The work week including non-food related jobs averages out to 33 hours a week. (Cultural Anthropology Chap 7) The rest of their time is spent with family or religious ceremonies.  The society of Hunter-gatherers is egalitarian
There is some gender specific jobs based on the needs of the nursing mom.  There is no shame for a man to do a womens job etc. There is no status because of the accumulation of wealth.  Accumulating wealth is looked on as a deviant behavior.  Food is shared with everyone in the tribe or family. Groups have home ranges and the food is available to all. This subsistence pattern society is less aggressive and more peaceful.

1. The benefits of agriculture are, more food for more people.  Agriculture can support a larger population of people.  Food producers settle down close to their food source, which contributes to the sharing of ideas and innovations. The pattern of agriculture allows some to farm and others to do specialized jobs, such as , Priests, builders etc. Math, Astronomy and many aspects of science were discovered because individuals had the time to think. Agriculture opened up trade lines, so many people had access to goods, such as silk, salt etc.

2. There are disadvantages to both subsistence patterns. The hunter-gathers must have a water source. Water is an important factor.  The available water must be fairly close or the energy to fetch the water is more than the emerge from the food provided.  The groups size is small in hunter-gatherer societies. Sometimes food gatherers must travel long distances, following animal migration and food growth patterns.
2.  There are more disadvantage to agriculture then hunter-gather societies. In agriculture people are tied down to the area they live in. Also the agriculture can support a large quantity of people. People come into contact with infectious diseases.  The trade of surplus food can introduce diseases into the community, where no immunity has been built up.  Agriculture needs land and land is a priority. Wars are used to gain more land which brings suffering to the people involved.  Land ownership creates a society of haves and have nots, with the wealthy on top controlling the distribution of the resources and keeping the workers in poverty. The crops grown in an agriculture society are limited. So nutrition is not as balanced and a lot of people suffer from malnutrition because they lack variety in there diet. Agriculture societies can not always feed the populace that has grown around the food source.  Famine weather etc can cause the crops to fail and people will starve.
3. The hunter- gather’s diet is much more nutritional.  The food sources are more varied. They have different kinds of food in their diet with some meat which provides the protein they need.
4. I think the transition from a hunter-gatherer to agriculture, happened by accident. I think it started small and then caught on and shared from one member to another, from one tribe to another.  Maybe a time of famine, came or the animals left etch and the hunter-gatherers planted food to help stave off starvation.

Part two.
If an agriculture society only produces enough to feed his own family or tribe, then he can not trade the extra for goods or products. So if a surplus is not available then trade can not take place.  If a person can grow a lot more than a family or culture can use then the excess amount can be traded either locally or long distance.

2, The first benefit of trade is to obtain items that are not home grown, such as salt or silk. Some of the items like salt can be used to preserve food etc.
Another benefit of trade is the exposure to ideas and inventions, such as better tools etc. Also maintaining social connections in the marketplace, which helps build alliances when problems happen.
3, One negative aspect of trade would be the inequality of wealth between people. The rich elite can control the worker, by taxation or tribute and demand so much that the worker is in a state of perpetual poverty. In our society the goods we receive are often produced by underage children, who have to work to help feed their families.  The children are employed because it is a cheaper labor source.
4, When most of societies used a hunter-gather subsistence pattern. The societies tended to be peaceful ,small and collective.  When agriculture developed, Wealth status, land ownership started. Agriculture through  trade started cities, and complex societies. As trade moved from local markets to further and further distances more complex society and civilizations arose.  Agriculture and trade built the industrial societies we have today.