Subsistence Patterns In America

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Pages: 8

Subsistence patterns developed as societies advance, each type of subsistence pattern, food foraging, pastoralism, horticulture and agriculture, are representative of a particular cultures means of adapting to their natural resources and habitats. As each pattern develops, gender roles are delineated and labor is divided. Food foraging is defined as ‘hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plant foods’. (Haviland, 2008). This subsistence pattern is found in a very small percentage of the world’s population, less than .005%. It lends itself to remote areas such as deserts, dense forests and frozen tundra’s such as the Arctic region. These types of social groups depend upon each other for support as well as the wild life around them and are relatively small, usually …show more content…
These powerful bodies imposed rules and taxes on the local famers making it almost impossible for them to make profits for themselves, forcing them into peasant status. Remaining poor, these peasant farmers lack the capital needed to purchase technologically advanced machinery to increase production. This was the ultimate example of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. During this time women’s roles and ability to amass status were completely wiped out. They were still responsible for child care and household chores, but were not able to obtain any type of status from gathering food or tending gardens. Men controlled all aspects of the household and women deferred to them for all decisions in the home. Men held all political power and most all wealth unless some form of wealth was inherited by a woman. If women worked outside the home, it was in roles such as nursing, child care and teaching. Manual labor or positions requiring higher education such as lawyers or doctors were filled by men