A subsistence economy is an economy directed to basic subsistence (the provision of food, clothing and shelter) rather than to the market.
Definition
"Subsistence" is understood as supporting oneself and family at a minimum level. Basic subsistence is the provision of food, clothing, shelter. A subsistence economy is an economy directed to one's subsistence rather than to the market. Often, the subsistence economy is
moneyless and relies on natural resources to provide for basic needs through hunting, gathering, and
agriculture
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...
. In a subsistence economy, economic surplus is minimal and only used to trade for basic goods, and there is no
industrialization. In hunting and gathering societies, resources are often, if not typically underused.
The subsistence system is maintained through sharing, feasting, ritual observance and associated norms.
Harvesting is an important indicator of
social capital.
Subsistence embodies cultural perspectives of relationships to places, people and animals.
History
In
human history
Human history or world history is the record of humankind from prehistory to the present. Early modern human, Modern humans evolved in Africa around 300,000 years ago and initially lived as hunter-gatherers. They Early expansions of hominin ...
, before the first
cities, all humans lived in a subsistence economy. As
urbanization,
civilization
A civilization (also spelled civilisation in British English) is any complex society characterized by the development of state (polity), the state, social stratification, urban area, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyon ...
, and
division of labor spread, various societies moved to other economic systems at various times. Some remain relatively unchanged, ranging from
uncontacted peoples, to marginalized areas of
developing countries, to some cultures that choose to retain a
traditional economy.
List of strategies
*
Hunting and gathering techniques, also known as
foraging:
**
Artisan fishing
Artisanal, subsistence, or traditional fishing consists of various small-scale, low-technology, fishing practices undertaken by individual fishermen (as opposed to commercial fishing). Many of these households are of coastal or island ethnic g ...
— a term which particularly applies to coastal or island ethnic groups using traditional techniques for subsistence fishing.
**
Aboriginal whaling, including the
subsistence hunting of the bowhead whale in the Arctic.
* Agriculture:
**
Subsistence agriculture —
agricultural cultivation involving continuous use of
arable (crop) land, and is more labor-intensive than horticulture.
**
Horticulture — plant cultivation, based on the use of simple tools.
*
Pastoralism, the raising of grazing animals:
** Pastoral
nomadism — all members of the pastoral society follow the herd throughout the year.
**
Transhumance or
agro-pastoralism — part of the society follows the herd, while the other part maintains a home village.
**
Ranch
A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...
agriculture — non-nomadic pastoralism with a defined territory.
*
Distribution and
exchange:
**
Redistribution
**
Reciprocity — exchange between social equals.
**
Potlatching — a widely studied ritual in which sponsors (helped by their entourages) gave away resources and manufactured wealth while generating prestige for themselves.
**
LETS — Local Exchange Trading Systems.
*A
parasitical society, subsisting on the produce of a separate host society:
**
Raiding
**
Conquest
**
Garbage picking, when subsisting in a larger economy
See also
*
Amish
The Amish (, also or ; ; ), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, church fellowships with Swiss people, Swiss and Alsace, Alsatian origins. As they ...
*
Anthropological theories of value
Anthropological theories of value attempt to expand on the traditional Value theory, theories of value used by economics, economists or value theory, ethicists. They are often broader in scope than the theories of value of Adam Smith, David Ricar ...
*
Back-to-the-land movement
A back-to-the-land movement is any of various agrarianism, agrarian movements across different historical periods. The common thread is a call for people to take up smallholding and to grow food from the land with an emphasis on a greater degree o ...
*
Lasse Nordlund
*
Mahatma Gandhi
*
Natural economy
*
Poverty
Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual lacks the financial resources and essentials for a basic standard of living. Poverty can have diverse Biophysical environmen ...
*
Shakers
*
Simple living
*
Staple food
*
Society
A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...
*
Subsistence crisis
*
Tiny house movement
References
{{Authority control
Economic systems
Agricultural economics
de:Subsistenzwirtschaft