Cultural Anthropology ch 5

Semi subsistence

Producing a cash crop but also growing food for oneself.

Balanced reciprocity

The exchange of something with the expectation that something of equal value will be returned within a specific time period.

Consumption

The process of buying, eating, or using a resource, food, commodity, or service.

Generalized reciprocity

Giving without expecting a specific thing in return.

General purpose money

A medium of exchange that can be used in all economic transactions.

Homo economicus

A term used to describe a person who would make rational decisions in ways predicted by economic theories.

Means of production

The resources used to produce goods in a society such as land for farming or factories.

Mode of production

The social relations through which human labor is used to transform energy from nature using tools, skills, organization, and knowledge.

Negative reciprocity

An attempt to get something for nothing; exchange in which both parties try to take advantage of the other.

Political economy

An approach in anthropology that investigates the historical evolution of economic relationships as well as contemporary political processes and social structures that contribute to differences in income and wealth.

Redistribution

The accumulation of goods or labor by a particular person or institution for the purpose of dispersal at a later date.

Structural violence

A form of violence in which a social structure or institution harms people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs.

Subsistence farmers

People who raise plants and animals for their own consumption, but not for sale to others.

Agriculture

The cultivation of domesticated plants and animals using technologies that allow for intensive use of the land.

Broad spectrum diet

A diet based on a wide range of food resources.

Built environment

Spaces that are human-made, including cultivated land as well as buildings.

Carrying capacity

A measurement of the number of calories that can be extracted from a particular unit of land in order to support a human population.

Commodity chain

The series of steps a food takes from the location where it is produced to the store where it is sold to consumers.

Delayed return system

Techniques for obtaining food that require an investment of work over a period of time before the food becomes available for consumption.

Domestic economy

The work associated with obtaining food for a family or household.

Foodways

The cultural norms and attitudes surrounding food and eating.

Foraging

A subsistence system that relies on wild plant and animal food resources.

Historical ecology

The study of how human cultures have developed over time as a result of interactions with the environment.

Horticulture

A subsistence system based on the small-scale cultivation of crops intended primarily for the direct consumption of the household or immediate community.

Modes of subsistence

The techniques used by the members of a society to obtain food classified into four broad categories: foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture.

Mono-cropping

The reliance on a single plant species as a food source, leading to decreased dietary diversity and the risk of malnutrition.

Neolithic Revolution

A period of rapid innovation in subsistence technologies that began 10,000 years ago and led to the emergence of agriculture.

Pastoralism

A subsistence system in which people raise herds of domesticated livestock.

Staple crops

Foods that form the backbone of the subsistence system by providing the majority of the calories a society consumes.

Subsistence system

The set of skills, practices, and technologies used by members of a society to acquire and distribute food.

World system

A complex economic system through which goods circulate around the globe, characterized by a separation of producers from consumers.