M AKING A L IVING Subsistence and Economy. C ULTURAL A DAPTATION A COMPLEX OF IDEAS, ACTIVITIES, AND TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENABLE PEOPLE TO SURVIVE AND EVEN

MAKING A LIVINGSubsistence and Economy

CULTURAL ADAPTATIONA COMPLEX OF IDEAS, ACTIVITIES, AND TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENABLE PEOPLE TO SURVIVE AND EVEN THRIVE

Adaptation occurs when humans change the natural environment, and when the natural environment changes human biologyEx: Moken people of Southeast

Asia (off coast of Myanmar). Hunter/Gatherers of the Sea. Can see twice as clearly underwater as normal, dive up to 75 feet, and hold their breath for extended periods of time

THE ADAPTIVE RELATIONSHIPORGANISMS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS

Environments present certain possibilities and limitations that Organisms (including humans) must adapt to. This relationship is referred to as an…Ecosystem: A system, or a

functioning whole, composed of both the natural environment and all the organisms living within it.


Cultural Evolution: Culture change over timePopulations evolve when individual

organisms within the population are born with certain genetic mutations that are better adapted to their environment, and which enable them to thrive and reproduce.


Cultures evolve when faced with environmental or other stressors. Example issue: San bushmen

culture must adapt to a changing world


Cultures evolve when faced with environmental or other stressors. Convergent evolution: In cultural

evolution, the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by different peoples with different ancestral culturesEx: Horses introduced to disparate Native American cultures (I.e. nomads like the Comanche, and horticulturalists like the Cheyenne), change both groups to warrior-type cultures based on horse-raiding.


Cultures evolve when faced with environmental or other stressors. Parallel evolution: In cultural

evolution, the development of similar cultural adaptations to similar environmental conditions by people whose ancestral cultures were already somewhat alike.Ex: Development of large-scale agriculture and food distribution networks in the early state cultures of Mesoamerica and Egypt due to shrinking resources and an abundance of people in the area needing those resources.

MODES OF SUBSISTENCE

Food Foraging SocietiesHunting, fishing, and gathering of wild

plant foods Food Producing Societies

Domestication of plants (cultivation) and animals (breeding/raising)

Industrial SocietiesMachines and tools instead of human

labor. Technological inventions utilizing steam, water, air, oil, electricity, and nuclear energy.

FOOD FORAGING SOCIETIES

Hunting, Fishing and Gathering of wild plant food

i.e. “Hunter/Gatherers”

FOOD FORAGING SOCIETIESCHARACTERIZED BY…

Mobility Small Group Size

Carrying capacity: The number of people that the available resources can support at a given level of food-getting techniques

Density of Social relations: The number and intensity of interactions among the members of a camp.


Flexible Division of Labor by Gender: Meaning that men and women can take on each others’ tasks without any social stigmas (i.e. no one will make fun of them).


Food Sharing Egalitarian Social RelationsFood is shared, not hoarded. Wealth

(lots of food) is considered socially inappropriate.

Whoever finds food first, has first dibs. Afterward, everyone takes a share.

Since food foragers have no “rank” or hierarchies, there is no giving the “worst parts” of the food to people who would be considered “lower-ranking” like the Fore culture (cannibalism example) discussed in chapter 1.

FOOD FORAGING SOCIETIES

~10,000 years ago in the fertile crescent (ancient Mesopotamia), we have something called the “Neolithic Transition”. This “New Stone Age”

was characterized by a sudden boom in the adoption of agricultural

instruments such as the plow, yoke and hoe, and the large-scale

domestication of wild plants such as wheat, maize, rice, beans, potatoes, and squash, and animals like goats,

sheep, pigs, and cattle.

Leading some cultures to evolve into…

FOOD PRODUCING SOCIETIES!!!

Domestication of plants (cultivation) and animals (breeding/raising)

HorticultureAgricultureMixed FarmingPastoralismIntensive Agriculture

FOOD-PRODUCING SOCIETIES CHARACTERIZED BY…

HorticultureCultivation of crops carried out

with simple hand tools such as digging sticks or hoes Ex: Rice farming in Tanzania Slash-and-burn cultivation (swidden

farming): An extensive form of horticulture in which the natural vegetation is cut, the slash is subsequently burned, and crops are then planted among the ashes.

FOOD-PRODUCING SOCIETIESCHARACTERIZED BY…

AgricultureThe cultivation of food plants in

soil prepared and maintained for crop production. Involves using technologies other than hand tools, such as irrigation, fertilizers, and the wooden or metal plow pulled by harnessed draft animals.


Mixed FarmingCrop growing and animal

breeding


PastoralismBreeding and managing

large herds of domesticated grazing animals, such as goats, sheep, cattle, horses, llamas, or camels. Ex: Fulani group in Mali (sahara desert)

(cattle herders) Ex: The Sami (reindeer herders): *Both of these are examples of Nomadic

pastoralists


Intensive Agriculture (Non-Industrial cities)In support of towns/cities.

Allowed cultures to specialize: Jobs such as blacksmith, musician, scribe, are created. Not everyone has to produce food. Food production is instead regulated to…


Peasants: Rural cultivators whose surpluses are transferred to a dominant group of rulers that uses the surpluses both to underwrite its own standard of living and to distribute the remainder to groups in society that do not farm but must be fed for their specific goods and servies in turn.

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS AND ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Like the study of language, politics, gender or any other category pertaining to humans, the study of human economic systems (I.e. organized arrangements for producing, distributing and consuming goods), must be considered via the holistic perspective

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS AND ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Ethnographic Example Ex: Trobriand Islanders

views of yams Studied by

Bronislaw Malinowski

“Like people the world over, the Trobriand Islanders assign meanings to objects that make those objects worth far more than either cost in labor or materials.”

Yams = status. The more yams a man has, the more $$ and power.

Labor Resources and PatternsDivision of Labor by Gender

Flexible/integrated pattern: Seen most often among food foragers. Men and women perform equal amount of activities. “Men’s work and “Women’s work” may be undertaken by either task without any social stigmas.

PRODUCTION AND ITS RESOURCES


Dual sex configuration: Seen often in many Native American groups (also in ancient Egypt!). Men and women have their own tasks that are deemed complimentary. Men’s work is not better than women’s and vice versa.



Segregated pattern: Seen most often in pastoral nomadic,intensive agricultural, and industrial societies. All work as either masculine or feminine. Men and women rarely engage in joint efforts, and doing work of the opposite gender would be inconceivable.


Labor Resources and PatternsDivision of Labor by Age

Both the young and the old play significant roles across the economic spectrum, with the young helping out with food production and the elderly as repositories of economic knowledge.

Craft SpecializationTypically characteristic of industrial and post-industrial societies that can support individuals who do not grow/produce their own food.


DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE

Reciprocity: The exchange of goods and services, of approximately equal value, between two parties.Generalized Reciprocity: A mode

of exchange in which the value of what is given is not calculated, nor is the time of repayment specified. Usually amongst family and friends.Ex: Stopping to help up someone who trips, needs to use your phone for an emergency, asks for a french fry, etc.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGEReciprocity: The exchange of

goods and services, of approximately equal value, between two parties.Balanced Reciprocity: A mode

of exchange in which the giving and receiving are specific as to the value of the goods and the time of their delivery.Ex: Gifts at a B-day party/wedding/baby shower, buying drinks/being the DD for inebriated friends if it is your “turn” to do so.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXCHANGE

Reciprocity: The exchange of goods and services, of approximately equal value, between two parties.Negative Reciprocity: A form of

exchange in which the aim is to get something for as little as possible. Neither fair not balanced it may involve hard bargaining, and outright cheating.Ex: Keeping a significant other’s things after a break-up, with the knowledge that the person may want their belongings returned.

Redistribution: A form of exchange in which goods flow into a central place, where they are sorted, counted and reallocated.Ex: Ancient Egyptian temple

donations

Distribution and Exchange

RedistributionSpending Wealth to Gain Prestige

Conspicuous Consumption: (What we do in most Euroamerican culture). A showy display of wealth for social prestige.

Potlatch: Comes from “patshatl meaning “gift” from Chinook Native American language. A ceremonial event in which a village chief publicly gives away stockpiled food and other goods that signify wealth.

Prestige Ceremony: Creation of a surplus for the express purpose of gaining prestige through a public display of weath that is given away as gifts.


RedistributionLeveling Mechanisms: Opposite

of the the above. A cultural obligation compelling prosperous members of a community to give away goods, host public feasts, provide free service, or otherwise demonstrate generosity so that no one permanently accumulates significantly more wealth than anyone else.


Market Exchange: Euroamerican system. The buying and selling of goods and services with prices set by rules of supply and demand.Informal Economy: A network of producing

and circulating marketable commodities, labor, and services that for various reasons escape government control. Ex: Babysitting, house cleaning, begging, prostitution, drug dealing, gambling…etc.


Documents

M AKING A L IVING Subsistence and Economy. C ULTURAL A DAPTATION A COMPLEX OF IDEAS, ACTIVITIES, AND TECHNOLOGIES THAT ENABLE PEOPLE TO SURVIVE AND EVEN