economic anthropology.
Sub-discipline of anthropology that focuses on subsistence strategies and economic systems.
subsistence patterns.
Methods o f obtaining food
using available land and
resources, available labor and
energy, and technology.
foragers.
Peoples whose subsistence
pattern is hunting and
gathering.
food producers.
Users of a subsistence strategy
that transforms and manages
the environment to obtain a food.
pastoralism.
A subsistence strategy focusing
on raising and caring for large
herds of domesticated animals.
horticulture.
A subsistence strategy that
focuses on small-scale farming
using a relatively simple
technology.
agriculture.
A subsistence strategy focusing
on intensive farming, investing
a great deal of time, energy,
and technology.
carrying capacity.
The number of people who
can be sustained by the
resources and environment in
which they live.
settlement pattern.
The way people distribute
themselves in their
environment, including where
they locate their dwellings, how
they group dwellings into
settlements, and how
permanent or transitory those
settlements are.
reciprocity.
Principles of mutual gift giving.
redistribution.
The gathering together and
then reallocation of food and
resources to ensure everyone's
survival.
R E V I E W.
R E V I E W.
Subsistence patterns are broadly divided into foragers and food producers.
Pastoralism, horticulture,
and agriculture are three forms of food production.
People's subsistence strategies depend in
part on the carrying capacity of the environme
leveling mechanisms.
Cultural practices designed to
equalize access to food,
resources, and social prestige
through a community so that
no one individual can amass
greater wealth or greater
prestige than other people.
nomads.
People who do not have
permanent homes but travel to
sources of food as the food
becomes seasonally available.
optimal foraging theory.
Application of animal studies
and decision theory to human
foraging.
surplus.
Food and other goods tha t are
produced at a level greater
than that needed for survival.
sedentary communities.
Settlement pattern involving
long-term, permanent
settlements.
slash-and-burn (swidden)
cultivation.
A farming technique for
preparing new fields by cutting
down trees and bushes and
then burning them to clear the
land and enrich the soil with
nutrients.
Consequences of Food
Production.
FIGURE 6.1 p. 153
PEOPLE WERE ABLE TO PLANT, HARVEST, PRESERVE, AND STORE MORE FOOD.
Increase in surplus-------------? increase in population-------------?- increase in accumulation of
material culture
Use of grains to feed babies and young children------
intensive agriculture.
Application of technology and
intensive labor to farming, such
as the plow and irrigation.
R E V I E W.
Agricultural societies have larger populations and greater division of labor, along with more centralization and wider disparity of wealth and power.
Intensive agriculture involves the use of draft animals, fertilizers, and irrigation to farm on a large s
R E V I E W.
Economic anthropologists also study changes in people's subsistence due to environmental or
population changes and cultural contact, as well as the effects of those changes on society and
culture.
Summary of Economic Anthropology.
� Economic anthropology focuses on subsistence strategies
and economic systems�how people meet their
survival needs and make their living.
Summary of Understanding Human Subsistence Patterns.
� Subsistence strategies include methods that people
use to obtain food. People need to develop techniques
to adapt to their environment, exploit available resources,
or produce their own food. Subsistence strategies
affect and are affected by environment
Summary of Foraging.
� Foraging is a subsistence strategy that depends directly
on plants and animals available in the environment.
Foragers collect wild plants, fruits, nuts, and seeds and
h u n t animals and fish. Foragers require a large territory
for subsistence. Most for
Summary of Pastoralism.
� Pastoralism is a subsistence strategy that centers on the
herding and care of large numbers of domesticated animals.
Some pastoralists are nomadic, moving frequently
as they take their animals to new pasturelands. Others
retain a home base and make dail
Summary of Horticulture.
� Horticulture is a subsistence strategy based on growing
crops. Horticulture is small-scale farming, using
handheld tools and relatively simple technology.
Farmers need to remain near their fields during the
planting season. Some horticulturalists live i
Summary of Agriculture.
� Agriculture is a form of food production based on
permanent settlement; large-scale farming using
complex technology; and the storage, distribution,
and trade of large surpluses. Agriculture arose independently
in different parts of the world based on d
Summary of Subsistence and Culture Change.
� Subsistence strategies change in response to environmental
changes, population migration, and cultural
contact between peoples.
1. What do economic anthropologists study?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
2. What are the essential differences between foraging
and food production? Which is more costly in terms
of time, effort, and calories? Which is more costly in
terms of short-term survival?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
3. What is carrying capacity, and how do people adapt to
this subsistence constraint?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
4. How do modes of subsistence influence settlement
patterns? How is nomadism an example of settlement
pattern adaptation?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
5. How do subsistence modes influence population size,
density, composition, and distribution?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
6. How do subsistence modes influence a society's
division of labor by age, gender, skill, and social
status?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
7. How do peoples' systems of roles and statuses both
reflect and reinforce their subsistence?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
8. What ecological, demographic, and sociocultural factors characterize foraging?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
9. What is the theory of optimal foraging? How can
foraging be combined with horticulture to increase
survival rates?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
10. What ecological, demographic, and sociocultural factors characterize pastoralism?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
11. Why do many pastoralist societies avoid using their animals for food?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
12. What are the impacts of greater sedentism and production
of surpluses among some pastoralists and
horticulturalists?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
13. How does swidden farming work as a subsistence strategy? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
14. What are the chief characteristics of agriculture as a subsistence strategy?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.
15. How do subsistence patterns change over time? How can changes in subsistence cause other changes in a people's way of life?
R E V I E W Q U E S T I O N S.