Chapter 5
Making A Living
Subsistence Patterns
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The ways societies transform the material
resources of the environment into food, clothing,
and shelter
They develop in response to:
• seasonal variation in the environment.
• environmental variations such as drought, flood,
or animal diseases.
Subsistence Strategies
Factors:
• Population density: the number of
people inhabiting an area of land
• Productivity: the yield per person per
unit of land
• Efficiency: the
yield per person
per hour of
labor invested
Major Subsistence Strategies
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Foraging
Pastoralism
Horticulture
Agriculture
Industrialism
Subsistence Strategies
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Until about 10,000 years ago, humans
lived by foraging.
As tools improved, foragers spread out
and developed diverse cultures, arriving
in the Americas and Australia about
25,000 years ago.
Subsistence Strategies
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About 10,000 years ago, human groups in
the Old World, and 4,000 years later in
the New World, began to domesticate
plants and animals.
The domestication of plants and animals
supported increased populations and
sedentary village life became widespread.
Subsistence Strategies
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The Industrial Revolution
involved the replacement of
human and animal energy by
machines.
In a typical nonindustrial
society, more than 80% of
the population is involved in
food production
In a highly industrialized
society, 10% of the people
produce food for the other
90%.
Subsistence Strategy
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Each subsistence strategy:
• supports a characteristic level of
population density.
• has a different level of productivity.
• has a different level of efficiency.
Foraging
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Relies on food naturally available in the
environment
Strategy for 99% of the time humans have
been on earth
Limits population growth and complexity
of social organization
Pastoralism
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Caring for domesticated animals which
produce meat and milk
Involves a complex interaction among
animals, land, and people
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How can you get all the protein and nutrients from raising animals?
Found along with cultivation or trading
relations with food cultivators
Horticultural
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Horticulture is the growing of crops of all
kinds with relatively simple tools and
methods.
Typically a tropical forest adaptation that
requires cutting and burning the jungle to
clear fields
Agriculture
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Production of plants using plows, animals,
and soil and water control
Associated with:
• Sedentary villages
• Occupational diversity
• Social stratification
Transitions to Industrial
Economy
Affected many aspects of
society:
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Population growth
Expanded consumption of
resources
International expansion
Occupational specialization
Shift from subsistence
strategies to wage labor
Globalization
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Industrialism today has outgrown national
boundaries.
The result has been great movement of
resources, capital, and population, as the
whole world has gradually been drawn
into the global economy.
Bringing it Back Home:
Globalization and Food Choice
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In the past most of the food choices on
our tables were locally grown.
Today, some 80% of the fruit consumed
in the U.S. is produced in only two states
– Washington and California.
In the fiscal year 2007, the U.S. imported
70 billion dollars’ worth of food.
Bringing it Back Home:
Globalization and Food Choice
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Fruits and vegetables are available yearround from places as far away as India.
This global food network exerts a high
price and a high carbon footprint.
The average tomato produces three times
as much carbon dioxide than a locallygrown one.
Market Foragers?
Bringing it Back Home:
Globalization and Food Choice
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You decide:
• What cultural, social, personal, and other
obstacles do you see as standing in the way
of or opening possibilities for changes in
America’s food habits?
• What are some of the changes in American
culture and society that might result from
changes in America’s food practices?