| agriculture | Nonindustrial systems of plant cultivation characterized by continuous and intensive use of land and labor.
|
 |
|
|
| balanced reciprocity | See generalized reciprocity.
|
|
|
|
| band | Basic unit of social organization among foragers. A band includes fewer than 100 people; it often splits up seasonally.
|
|
|
|
| correlation | An association between two or more variables such that when one changes (varies), the other(s) also change(s) (covaries); for example, temperature and sweating.
|
|
|
|
| cultivation continuum | A continuum based on the comparative study of nonindustrial cultivating societies in which labor intensity increases and fallowing decreases.
|
|
|
|
| economizing | The rational allocation of scarce means (or resources) to alternative ends (or uses); often considered the subject matter of economics.
|
|
|
|
| economy | A population’s system of production, distribution, and consumption of resources.
|
|
|
|
| generalized reciprocity | Principle that characterizes exchanges between closely related individuals. As social distance increases, reciprocity becomes balanced and finally negative.
|
|
|
|
| horticulture | Nonindustrial system of plant cultivation in which plots lie fallow for varying lengths of time.
|
|
|
|
| market principle | Profit-oriented principle of exchange that dominates in states, particularly industrial states. Goods and services are bought and sold, and values are determined by supply and demand.
|
|
|
|
| means (or factors) of production | Land, labor, technology, and capital—major productive resources.
|
|
|
|
| mode of production | Way of organizing production—a set of social relations through which labor is deployed to wrest energy from nature by means of tools, skills, and knowledge.
|
|
|
|
| negative reciprocity | See generalized reciprocity.
|
|
|
|
| nomadism, pastoral | Movement throughout the year by the whole pastoral group (men, women, and children) with their animals; more generally, such constant movement in pursuit of strategic resources.
|
|
|
|
| pastoralists | People who use a food-producing strategy of adaptation based on care of herds of domesticated animals.
|
|
|
|
| peasant | Small-scale agriculturalist living in a state with rent fund obligations.
|
|
|
|
| potlatch | Competitive feast among Indians on the North Pacific Coast of North America.
|
|
|
|
| reciprocity | One of the three principles of exchange; governs exchange between social equals; major exchange mode in band and tribal societies.
|
|
|
|
| redistribution | Major exchange mode of chiefdoms, many archaic states, and some states with managed economies.
|
|
|
|
| transhumance | One of two variants of pastoralism; part of the population moves seasonally with the herds while the other part remains in home villages.
|