Subsistence and Economy

Part 1: 


Benefits of a Hunter-Gatherer subsistence pattern:


They are less likely to experience a severe famine related to loss of food from disease or natural disaster.
Obtaining and ingesting an ample amount of nutritious and balanced food is easier to do consistently. They have greater mobility by having less belongings or material goods. Hunter-gatherer groups are usually small in size and they maintain a flexible division of labor by gender. There is greater social equality in the egalitarian society. The idea of generosity is developed in sharing food with the group as a whole. They are less likely to engage in warfare (although there is some debate to that).

Benefits of an Agricultural based subsistence pattern:


There is a surplus of food most seasons which can be used to trade for goods or sell for cash value. They can create a permanent settlement, therefore reducing the amount of moving that they need to do. They can collect material goods since they do not need to be able to carry their possessions. For some of the group there is greater "leisure time" that can be spent in other pursuits. They can also learn to specialize in a trade or other profession.


Disadvantages of a Hunter-Gatherer subsistence pattern:


HG's cannot collect or amass material items. They must travel often to get food. They also cannot grow a surplus of food-limiting their ability to sell or trade in a market place and providing extra resources to their family. Both males and females are expected to contribute to the essentials of survival.

Disadvantages of an Agricultural based subsistence pattern:


If there is a failure with the crops, there will be a shortage of food for the season and possibly famine. Women are not considered of equal status to men, oftentimes becoming "property." They also have a diet that lacks variety which could lead to malnutrition. To grow crops the natural landscape is typically altered to make room for the crop plants. This destruction can negatively impact the other animals and plants in the environment.

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It has been shown that the Hunter-Gatherer subsistence pattern was able to provide a healthier, more balanced type of diet. They are able to get a wide variety of foods that provides the necessary nutrients found naturally in the environment. They are also less likely to eat unhealthy fats and sugars which contribute to much of the disease that occurs in western agriculture-based subsistence patterns.

I believe there were many factors that contributed to most humans making the switch from a hunter-gatherer to an agricultural based society. The climate was changing, which could have contributed to a change in natural growth patterns which led to the people to seek out a solution to making sure they had food without migrating to another area. It could have also been a slow adaptation that began with one type of planting at a time-going from one plant to all the needed food crops. It could have become a cycle of population and needed food that eventually got to the point that could not be stopped.


Part 2:


1. "There is a direct relationship between the availability of surplus and the ability to trade." To me this means that without that surplus that was created in farming, the farmer would not be able to go to market and trade for other goods that they did not have-but needed or wanted. The ability to trade is dependent on that surplus existing, without it trade cannot occur.

2. A social benefit of trade is the ability of the trader to gain prestige within the community. If they have good goods to trade their positive reputation is built.
Another social benefit of trade is to improve relations and build networks within and beyond the traders' immediate community.

3. A social drawback that comes from trade is the traders can lose respect in the community if they do not make fair trades. If they develop this negative reputation, less people will be likely to trade with them down the line which could impact their family's resources.
Another negative social result of trade occurs when groups from different communities meet to trade, they could expose each other to communicable diseases which could infect their home communities.

4. With hunter-gatherer societies, there was not a surplus of food. They had or found what they needed and did not expand on that. With agriculture, growing a surplus of food allowed the farmer to take that and either trade for what was needed that he did not have or sell it for cash, which could be used to purchase other necessities or material items. As agriculture expanded there were more people with surpluses who wanted to exchange them with others. Agriculture led to the development of more complex economies and a greater focus on material wealth.