- alternative modernity
- versions of modernity shaped by local social and cultural forms.
- animal domestication
- the processing of animal products for use as food, textiles, and tools.
- balanced reciprocity
- the practice building social relationships through the exchange of gifts of roughly equal value.
- band
- a form of social organization associated with gatherer-hunter societies. Bands are relatively small, often around 50 people, ideal for a nomadic or seminomadic lifestyle.
- colonialism
- the political domination of another country in the interest of economic exploitation.
- commodity fetishism
- the association of commodities with magical powers of personal transformation.
- cultivation
- basic manipulation of nature, such as the intentional growing of plants.
- egalitarian
- emphasizing equality and sharing.
- extensive horticulture
- a form of plant cultivation in which new plots are regularly cleared, prepared with digging sticks or hoes, and fertilized with animal dung, ash, or other natural products.
- extensive or shifting cultivation
- a horticultural practice in which plots of land are farmed for a period of time, then left to lie fallow as farmers move on to cultivate other plots.
- fallow
- describes a plot of land that is not cultivated for a period of time so that wild vegetation may grow in naturally.
- gathering-hunting
- the mode of subsistence in which people rely on resources readily available in their environment. Gathering-hunting peoples collect fruits, nuts, berries, and roots and harvest honey. They also hunt and trap wild animals.
- general-purpose money
- money that can be exchanged for a wide variety of goods and services.
- generalized reciprocity
- the practice of sharing without regard for the value of objects or interest in compensation.
- globalization
- the dramatic increase in global processes of production and consumption since the 1970s.
- humus
- organic matter in soil formed by the decomposition of plants.
- hxaro
- a friendship developed through gift exchange, practiced among the Dobe Ju/’hoansi and other San groups of the Kalahari.
- industrialism
- the mode of subsistence that uses wage labor, machines, and chemical processes to mass-produce commodities.
- intensive agriculture
- a form of plant cultivation in which one plot is farmed over and over again using labor-intensive methods such as plowing, terracing, and irrigation.
- intercropping
- planting certain species of plants side by side to enhance their health and growth.
- markets
- institutions that allow for buyers and sellers to meet for the purposes of economic exchange.
- mode of subsistence
- a way in which people interact with the environment to meet their needs. Each mode of subsistence involves its own forms of knowledge, techniques, technologies, and social organization.
- modernity
- the complex of sociocultural features associated with industrial society.
- money
- a medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value.
- monumental architecture
- large structures built for public viewing or use, such as pyramids, temples, sports arenas, and coliseums.
- nomadism
- the practice of moving frequently in search of resources.
- pastoralism
- the mode of subsistence associated with the care and use of herd animals.
- peasants
- small-plot farmers incorporated into larger regional economies, often states.
- plant domestication
- the process of adapting wild plants for human use.
- postmodernity
- the cultural shift associated with postindustrialism.
- potlatch
- a feast in which a trove of gifts is presented by the host chief to the guest chief in order to demonstrate wealth and gain prestige.
- precarity
- physical and psychological harm caused by lack of secure and stable income.
- redistribution
- a system whereby goods are collected and stored by a leader and later given out or used for public benefit.
- seminomadic
- the practice of settling in one place for a period of time, usually a few weeks, then moving to a new site to find fresh resources.
- sexual division of labor
- the assignment of work based on a person’s sex.
- slash and burn
- the technique of preparing a new plot by cutting down the trees and shrubs, burning the vegetation to the ground, then tilling the ash into the soil as fertilizer.
- special-purpose money
- money that is exchanged for specific items or services.
- surplus
- amount of harvest left over after supplying the needs of the household.
- time-space compression
- the postmodern feeling that time is speeding up and global space is shrinking.
- transhumance
- a technique practiced by many pastoralist groups that combines a settled lifestyle with routine movement. Societies that practice transhumance may move between two permanent settlements in an annual cycle. Another transhumance strategy involves most people residing in a settlement and sending a smaller group out to pasture the animals at certain times of the year.
- universalism
- the belief that social systems have operated roughly the same way all over the world at all times past and present.
- usufruct rights
- rights to use a resource but not to own or sell it.