Class notes

Hunter-Gatherer Societies

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Course
SLACK142

Institution
Columbia College (CC )

A settled agricultural society is where the adaptation of human work and tools are fixed to a land plot for more than one growing cycle. This means changing hunting and gathering a lifestyle based on agriculture to stay in one place until the soil is exhausted. While hunter-gatherer is a simple soc...

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Uploaded on January 30, 2023
Number of pages 2
Written in 2022/2023
Type Class notes
Professor(s) John ravel
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Hunter-gatherer societies

A settled agricultural society is where the adaptation of human work and tools are fixed to a
land plot for more than one growing cycle. This means changing hunting and gathering a
lifestyle based on agriculture to stay in one place until the soil is exhausted. While hunter-
gatherer is a simple society based on hunting and gathering food. The significant contrast
between the two is the growth of innovative tools that mark the clear difference between them. In
agricultural societies, there is a clear form of division of labor. People in this society specialized
in their tasks and hence this gave way to the development of skills and to trade and expand ideas,
and knowledge from community to community.

Mostly because of specializations such as the diffusion of ideas and information, permanent
settlements, and a growth in population, which also implies an increase in duties, established
societies paved the way for the establishment of government. A leader is required to guide and
accept responsibility for society to function properly. The hunter and gatherer community, on the
other hand, is an acephalous society. There is no leader, and all members are equally important.
Because they are always traveling from one location to another, they don't feel the need for
someone to control them. People fight for their rights and property. They want to accumulate
more and more wealth and become prosperous enveloping the mind of this society. Judging
people in skills-based performances gives birth to the idea of inequality in society.

However, anthropologists and sociologists have explored several types of societies throughout
history such as hunting and gathering, agricultural, industrial societies etc. The demarcation of
each society is based on the sophistication of tools, techniques and way of living.
The development of agricultural societies marked a significant shift in human history. Instead of
relying on hunting and gathering for survival, these societies established settlements and began
cultivating crops and raising animals. This allowed for a more stable food source and the ability
to stay in one place, which led to the specialization of labor and the emergence of social
hierarchies. Governments and institutions also formed to manage and regulate the production and
distribution of resources. Unfortunately, this often resulted in inequality, as some individuals and
groups amassed control over land, resources, and labor. In contrast, hunter-gatherer societies rely
on hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants for sustenance and tend to have less social
hierarchy and less inequality. They also move from place to place to follow the resources.
Hunting and gathering societies were based on a subsistence economy. The quantity of
production was confined to consumption extents. The concept of surplus, preserving and
exporting goods was not possible because of the absence of transport and communication
facilities. Such communities were present before two million years; These societies started to
change only after the end of the Ice Age, or about 12,000 years ago. People in this society were
mostly dependent on the environment and natural resources for survival. The food was collected
through hunting, fishing, and wandering. Moreover, such societies were egalitarian,
homogeneous, and least dependent. Nomadic and tribal societies are examples of hunting and
gathering societies.

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