1. Patterns of Subsistence
How People Make a Living
By Robbi Erickson http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/12140/
patterns_of_subsistence.html
Introduction
There are several different ways in which a culture can provide for their subsistence.
They can be food foragers, pastoralists, horticulturists, or agriculturists. Each pattern
of subsistence has its own level of stratification, settlement patterns, and degree of
labor specialization.
There are several different ways in which a culture can provide for their subsistence.
They can be food foragers, pastoralists, horticulturists, or agriculturists. Each pattern
of subsistence has its own level of stratification, settlement patterns, and degree of
labor specialization.
Food Foragers
Food foragers live in small bands of 100 or less people, who work together in an
egalitarian society, and who gather wild harvests and hunt for meat. There is a
sexual division of labor among the men and women. Men are required to do the
tasks that require physical strength and endurance like hunting and preparing
tough materials, while women are required to tasks that allow the accommodation
of child rearing restraints. This includes gathering wild nuts, grasses, cereals, and
vegetables, cooking, sewing, and maintaining the home. There is no stratification
in type of culture and sharing of the spoils of nature is done equally among its
members. However there are specific rules about how much meat eat person in the
band receives. This is based on the biological and cultural protein and fat needs of
each member. Food foragers move frequently through a roughly defined territory
and often follow seasonal patterns of wild crops and game migrations. (Searles and
Less, 2002, pg. 118).
Food foragers live in small bands of 100 or less people, who work together in an
egalitarian society, and who gather wild harvests and hunt for meat. There is a
sexual division of labor among the men and women. Men are required to do the
tasks that require physical strength and endurance like hunting and preparing
tough materials, while women are required to tasks that allow the accommodation
of child rearing restraints. This includes gathering wild nuts, grasses, cereals, and
vegetables, cooking, sewing, and maintaining the home. There is no stratification
in type of culture and sharing of the spoils of nature is done equally among its
members. However there are specific rules about how much meat eat person in the
band receives. This is based on the biological and cultural protein and fat needs of
each member. Food foragers move frequently through a roughly defined territory
and often follow seasonal patterns of wild crops and game migrations. (Searles and
Less, 2002, pg. 118).

2. Foragers in the North
American Subarctic
(Eskimo or Inuit in the
early 20th century)
An example of a food foraging culture is the Netsilik that occupy the land along
the Arctic coast northwest of Hudson Bay. The Netsilik are hunters and gatherers,
however, because of the frozen and barren condition of the land they inhabit, there
is very little to gather, and so they must rely on hunting. They use what resources
they have available to provide for their daily living needs. Hunting provides for their
food, clothing, and tool needs, while ice provides shelter, and entertainment. The
Netsilik migrated based on a two-season per year cycle. During the summer they
migrate inland to fish and hunt. This is the best time of the year for the Netsilik
because food is plentiful and varied. (Searles and Lee, 2002, p. 103). During this
time of plenty, each man hunts and fishes for his own family unit by himself.
However as the winter takes hold of the land the Netsilik migrate back to the coastal
winter camps that consist of 50 to 100 people. It is during the winter that seal
hunting is the main staple of their lives, and because of the difficulty in catching
seals, teamwork and sharing is vital to surviving the harshness of winter. The
Netsilik lack stratification because of this need to share during the tough times of the
year. Also because of the nature of their environment, specialization of roles is also
not present. (p. 105).
Anthropologists have identified three major variations of the foraging subsistence
pattern:
1. pedestrian (diversified hunting and gathering on foot)
The most well known pedestrian foragers were the Australian
Aborigines, the San speakers of Southwest Africa, the pygmies of West Central
Africa, most California Indians, and the Paiutes of the Great Basin in Western North
America.

3. Agta Kung San
2. equestrian (concentrating on hunting large mammals from horseback)
Equestrian foragers have evolved in only two areas of the world--the
Great Plains of North America and the sparse grasslands of Southern Argentina.
In both cases, pedestrian foragers acquired horses from Spanish settlers in the
early 17th century. Over several generations, horse breeding and riding skills were
honed.
North American equestrian
foragers of the Great Plains
in the late 19th century
3. aquatic (concentrating on fish and/or marine mammal hunting usually from boats)
Aquatic foragers focus their subsistence activities on fish, mollusks,
crustaceans, and/or marine mammals. The most well known aquatic foragers lived
on the Northwest Coast of North America from the Klamath River of California to the
Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

4. Foragers in the North
American Subarctic
(Eskimo or Inuit in the
early 20th century)
Pastoralists
Pastoralists differ from food foragers in that they have domesticated certain animals
to provide meat, dairy products, and skins to fulfill their needs. In most other ways
their cultures are similar. They lack stratification, they migrate in a defined territory
usually following the grazing patterns of their herds, jobs are divided based on sex,
and live in small to medium sized groups.
AAssociated Contentn example of a pastoral group of people is the Basseri of
southern Iran. Basseri follow a two-season per year migration that follows the
grazing needs of their herds. In the winter they graze their herds on the plains
and foothills, and in the summer they graze in the lush mountain pastures. The
Basseri, unlike the Netsilik, do have specialization in their labor. They are excellent
weavers and tanners. Women use goat hair to spin yarn and weave saddlebags,
carpets, and sleeping rungs. (Searles and Lee, 2002, pg. 108). Although they have
claim to a right to use certain pastures, they do not own land. A sexual division of
labor is seen in this group of people. The men are in charge of herding the animals
while the women are in charge of keeping the home and raising the children. They
also often have small gardens where they raise vegetables for the winter months.
It is important to note that women’s work, among the Basseri, does not include
dangerous jobs because of the value placed on their reproductive role. (p. 110).
Horticulturists
The previous two subsistence groups were defined as food-gatherers, horticulturists
on the other hand, belong to a category of food subsistence defined as a food
producer. Horticulturists differ from food gatherers in that they have a vested
interest in the crops they plant, and therefore do not migrate, or at least not as
much, as food gatherers. Most set up permanent residences and an ownership of the
land is claimed. Because they are sedentary, they also accumulate more material
objects, and place value in possessions. (Searles and Lee, 2002, pp. 124-125). This
practice is not practical in migratory societies.
The previous two subsistence groups were defined as food-gatherers, horticulturists
on the other hand, belong to a category of food subsistence defined as a food
producer. Horticulturists differ from food gatherers in that they have a vested
interest in the crops they plant, and therefore do not migrate, or at least not as
much, as food gatherers. Most set up permanent residences and an ownership of the
land is claimed. Because they are sedentary, they also accumulate more material
objects, and place value in possessions. (Searles and Lee, 2002, pp. 124-125). This
practice is not practical in migratory societies.

5. Women from a Papua New
Pigs raised for food and sale on Guinea
a horticultural village selling fruits
small horticultural farm in and
Colombia vegetables in a small town
market
An example that illustrates horticultural subsistence is Afghanistan Wheat Farming.
Unlike the food gatherers, stratification is seen at this level of subsistence
patterning, although it is only marginally observed. For example, in the bazaar where
merchants and farmers sell their merchandise a chief of the merchants is selected
based on an informal election of one man. Exchange is made using money on a cash-
and-carry basis. This too is different from food gatherers who mostly rely on their
own abilities to acquire food sources from the wild as opposed to buying or trading
for it. Because of the nature of their work, and its dependence on larger labor forces,
work is not as strictly divided among the sexes in the field. Men and women take
part in the cultivation of the land, however bartering tends to remain a man’s world.
Labor specialization is observable at this level as farmers produce surpluses of food
that can be sold to people who did not take part in its cultivation. The farmers in
turn can acquire material goods like tools, clothes, and specialty items made by
specialized craftsmen. (p. 126).
Agriculture
The next step up is agricultural subsistence groups. Here there is a deeply
stratification of its members. Populations are much larger and the development
of urban centers is possible because of the ability to produce a surplus of food.
Specialization of labor is clearly seen in these types of groups, and other areas of
interest like religion, science, math, and the arts are more fully developed.
An example of this type of subsistence group is illustrated by the Taiwanese Rice
Farming. Here there is a strong centralized bureaucratic government. Men and
women both work in the fields and harvest the crops of rice. In depth knowledge
about the biological weaknesses and needs of the rice plant is needed by the farmers
so that the correct fertilizers and growing techniques can be used to produce the
largest crop. (Searles and Lee, 2002, pg. 128-129). Farmers’ associations help
to maintain ties in the group and provide up-to-date information about farming
techniques. It is also possible to borrow money from the association to fund the
acquisition of farming equipment and machinery. A formal legal system is in place

6. that governs land rights, tax obligations, and sales of crops. (p. 131).
Heavily fertilized and
Rice production in China using
irrigated
gasoline driven rototillers (top
hillside terraced fields
left)
used
and large amounts of hand
for intensive rice farming
labor
in
for planting
Indonesia
Modern Large-Scale Societies
In large-scale societies today, agriculture has become highly efficient, requiring
much fewer people to produce the food for everyone else. This is particularly true
of mechanized grain farming and ranching. Technological advances in farm
production now occur frequently and are spread world wide within a few years. Our
new sources and uses of energy often require international trade on a global scale to
acquire them. This is particularly true of petroleum products.
In many of the poor developing nations in the tropical regions of the world,
plantation agriculture has increasingly replaced subsistence horticulture.
Plantations are large, labor-intensive farms that mostly produce fruit, sugar,
fiber, or vegetable oil products for the international market. The laborers usually
work for very low wages that keep them in poverty. Many of the plantations of
Indonesia, Philippines, Central America, the Caribbean, and West Africa are owned
by multinational corporations such as Dole and the National Fruit Company. The
net effect of this form of agriculture generally has been the flow of wealth from poor
nations in the southern hemisphere to rich ones in the northern hemisphere.
A century ago, the typical North American family lived on a farm in a multi-
generational household. Today the common pattern is a nuclear family household
in an urban or suburban environment. The form of the contemporary North
American family is largely a result of the demands of the work place. Corporations,
governments, and other major employers are often nationwide and even
international in their operations. Many commonly require their employees to move
from city to city and even country to country every few years. As a result, it is
extremely difficult for extended families to remain together in the same community
once the children grow up. We have become a people with few long term community
roots. It is not surprising that 3/4 of the people living in California today were not

7. born there. This pattern of frequent job related migrations is now occurring across
the globe.
We are moving into a post-industrial information-based economy in the U.S. and
other economically dominant nations. There is an increasing emphasis on mental
rather than hard physical labor. The economic and political power of women has
risen significantly in part as a result of this change.
Comparisons
Over the last 10,000 years, human populations have grown rapidly. This has
resulted in increased pressure to produce more food with the same amount of land.
As a consequence, our foraging ancestors were forced to change their subsistence
patterns radically. Horticulture and pastoralism solved the problem for several
thousand years. However, by 5,000 years ago in some regions of the world,
intensive agriculture became a necessity. During the 19th and 20th centuries, most
of humanity was forced to adopt this means of food production. Accompanying
the transition to intensive agriculture was the development of towns, cities, and
international commerce.
With each successive stage in this transition, people steadily moved away from a
passive dependence on the environment. As human populations grew, more food
had to be provided, which inevitably meant that there had to be greater control of
food sources. Foragers and pastoralists generally use their environments without
changing them significantly. In contrast, regions occupied by the early intensive
farming societies were radically altered. Forests were cut down, the land was
leveled, and the courses of rivers were altered to provide irrigation water. Many wild
plant and animal species came to be defined as weeds or pests and were eradicated.
Others were genetically altered through thousands of years of selective breeding
to be more useful for people. They became the domesticated food plants and farm
animals that are critical to our life today.
Societies generally became more complex with each successive stage in this
transition from foraging to intensive agriculture. Most foragers had small
communities without permanent leaders or other full-time non-food-producing
specialists. Their political systems were more or less egalitarian. Relationships
were based mainly on kinship ties and friendship. In contrast, societies that rely
on intensive agriculture to supply their food have class stratification and elaborate
political systems with hierarchies of leaders and bureaucrats. They are no longer
societies of equals. Some individuals become rich and politically powerful through
their control of the means of production, while others face conditions of poverty
with severe periodic food shortages. This discrepancy in access to resources has
been common in large-scale agricultural societies. However, economic inequality
was significantly reduced in industrial nations during the 20th century as a result of
the evolution of more democratic political systems and taxation that redistributed

8. society's wealth to some degree.
Increased efficiency in food production has resulted in a dramatic rise in the number
of non-food-producers. Among foragers, it is common for 100% of the healthy
adult population to participate directly in getting food. In Bangladesh, Guatemala,
and other relatively poor developing nations today, where farming has not been
significantly mechanized, 60-65% of the population is food producers. In the United
States, less than 1% of the entire population is still farmers. Those farmers not
only provide food and fiber for all of the non-food-producing Americans but also
for millions of people elsewhere in the world. It is ironic, that this dramatically
increased food production has not resulted in more leisure time. Far from it,
Americans now individually work more hours during the year than almost all other
nations.
Non-food producing
specialists in a modern
large-scale agricultural
society
The transition to intensive agriculture apparently had a major effect on the spread
of human parasitic diseases. The higher population densities of people resulting
from this subsistence pattern made it far easier for contagion to rapidly pass from
individual to individual. Major epidemics of bubonic plague, small pox, influenza, and
other scourges are far more likely to spread rapidly in towns and cities than among
relatively isolated small communities of foragers or horticulturalists. They are also
more likely to infect a higher percentage of the people in a dense population. It is
not surprising that the global influenza epidemic of 1918 killed 20-40 million people.
The number of deaths due to AIDS is likely to be far higher than this during the next
10-20 years. Africa will be especially hard hit by it.
Our large modern cities with their vast areas of concrete and asphalt change the
local microclimate by altering the amount of solar energy that is absorbed rather
than reflected back out into space. Cities literally become hot spots. These
artificial man-made environments also usually experience air and water pollution
problems not encountered when our populations were smaller and more dispersed.
In addition, our burgeoning populations progressively deplete important natural
resources such as drinking water, natural gas, and oil.
Another consequence of the transition to intensive agriculture and large-scale

9. societies has been a change in the nature of warfare. While most foraging societies
were peaceful and avoided violent conflicts with other societies when possible, all
of the ancient civilizations carried out bloody wars of conquest. Some pastoralist
societies were aggressive conquerors as well. As agriculture became more intensive
and populations larger in modern times, the scale of war increased dramatically. Far
more people were killed as a result of warfare during the 20th century than in any
other century in history. Armies were much larger and better equipped with efficient
mass killing machines.
Tools of mass warfare used by modern
large-scale agricultural societies
On the positive side, however, the 20th century also saw a rapid increase in scientific
knowledge and life expectancy in the developed nations. The time between major
technological revolutions has shortened to less than a single human generation.
By comparison, the lives of our relatively isolated, self-sufficient forager ancestors
remained largely unchanged over many generations.
References
Haviland, William A. (2002). Cultural Anthropology. (10th ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt
College Publishers.Lee, Valerie L., and Searles, Richard T. (2002). Study Guide
for the Telecourse Faces of Culture. (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson
Learning.