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Systems of Production

a general framework for describing different ways humans have organized society and culture for making a living. There are different versions but this is the basic idea

FORAGING

PASTORALISM

HORTICULTURE

INTENSIVE AGRICULTURE

INDUSTRIALISM
WHEN STARTED? (Note that these systems can go on at the same time in different places. In some places there was a transition from one to the next while in other places there was no change)

VERY SIMPLIFIED VIEW OF HUMANS IN THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

humans fit into ecosystem like other animals

humans fit into ecosystem without complete change of it but modify the use of some animals and plants to produce more food either in a smaller area or to access food more rapidly in a larger area

humans replace the ecosystem in places to produce much more food in a much smaller area

humans use new sources of energy from hydrocarbon deposits left from earlier plant growth
WHAT IS IT?

Foraging (also called hunting and gathering) is a mode of production involving minimal technologies to acquire food and other goods through a combination of hunting wild animals and collecting wild plants. The role of humans in foraging is similar to other animals in making a living from the environment without modifying it in a major way.

Pastoralism (also called herding) is the production of food and other goods from the exploitation of domesticated animals. It involves tending and using animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, llamas, camels, and horses. Large areas are often needed for grazing and some of the domsticated animals (like horses) may be used to provide mobility for herders.

Horticulture can be defined as farming without the use of technologies like the plow, irrigation, fertilizer, or draft animals. In horticulture the natural environment (e.g. forest) is modified but not removed and replaced with something else like a cleared and plowed field. (swidden or "slash and burn" agriculture is a very common type of horticulture where a small area of forest is cleared through cutting and burning vegetation to put nutrients in ashes in the soil)

Intensive agriculture is high-input, high-yield farming employing such technologies as the plow, irrigation, fertilizer, and draft animals. The previous environment (ecosystem) is changed to something different which become permanent farmlands

Industrialism -- industrial revolution,

PRIMARY ENERGY SOURCE FOR GROWING THINGS, DOING WORK. SOLAR ENERGY → photosynthesis → plant matter → food for animals and energy storage (can become fossil fuels)

 

SOLAR

 SOLAR SOLAR SOLAR FOSSIL FUELS, SOLAR

PLACE

Very large area, low population density

Relatively large area due to grazing animals need to obtain sufficient food

Relatively large area due to need for fallow period allowing nutrients in soil to recover between planting (often many years fallow needed after a plot is used a few years)

Smaller total  area with permanent farmlands accessible by many people -- development of towns and cities

New spatial arrangement with urban areas, agricultural areas linked by transportation/trade networks

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION (social groups, corporate groups)

 Small band, usually family groupings

 Larger groups, kinship ties

 Larger groups, kinship ties

 Much larger groups, kinship ties expand to clan level

 Nuclear families and larger kinship groups restricted to domestic sphere

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Usually BAND

Usually BAND or TRIBE

Usually CHIEFDOM

Usually STATE

STATE

PREDOMINANT TYPE OF EXCHANGE (RECIPROCAL VS MARKET)

 Reciprocal

 Reciprocal primarily

 Reciprocal primarily

 Both

 Both