What is subsistence?
Subsistence is how people secure necessities such as food, water, clothing, shelter, and care using knowledge, labor, tools, and other resources.
Study 1 Subsistence and Economic Organization with 12 free online flashcards. Review key terms, definitions, and concepts with this interactive flashcard deck.
What is subsistence?
Subsistence is how people secure necessities such as food, water, clothing, shelter, and care using knowledge, labor, tools, and other resources.
What does a mode of subsistence describe?
A mode of subsistence is a society’s predominant way of making a living, including how people interact with their environment and organize work.
What does economic anthropology study?
Economic anthropology studies how people produce, distribute, exchange, and consume goods and services, and how these activities are shaped by social relationships, culture, institutions, and power.
What is production?
Production is the work of making or obtaining useful goods and services, such as through gathering, farming, manufacturing, or care work.
How does exchange relate to distribution?
Exchange is one way of distributing goods. It can involve reciprocal giving, redistribution, or markets.
What is reciprocity?
Reciprocity involves giving and receiving between people or groups.
Must people produce everything they use to support their subsistence?
No. Subsistence activities can also involve trade, wage labor, and other connections to wider economies.
What shapes how production is carried out?
Production depends on resources, technology, knowledge, and how labor is organized.
What is distribution?
Distribution is how goods and services move among people and groups.
What is consumption?
Consumption is using goods and services to meet needs and pursue valued ways of life.
What distinguishes generalized reciprocity?
Generalized reciprocity means giving without setting an immediate or precisely measured return, as in many forms of family sharing.
How does redistribution work?
Redistribution gathers goods or resources at a central point and then allocates them again.
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