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Read the following passage.
Pastoralists and Hunter-Gatherers
The strategy a non-industrial society uses to obtain the resources its members need to survive – especially food – affects its social organization. Thus, societies using the same system of economic production will share some social characteristics, even though they are located in different parts of the world.
For much of human history, human beings were exclusively hunter-gatherers, foraging to meet their dietary and other needs. In such egalitarian societies, the basic social unit is the band. A band is a group of usually fewer than a hundred people, whose members are related through marriage or kinship. Everyone in the band gets an equal share of meat, and there is great social mobility. People marry outside their own band, so a person can choose to live with bands of his or her parents or grandparents. People can change their band membership several times in a lifetime. After marriage, a woman may move with her husband between her band and his.
About 12,000 years ago, humans developed food production in the form of farming and herding. As societies adopted this new economic strategy, social structures changed. A pastoralist, or herding society, is also based on small groups but is much more hierarchical. The main social unit is the extended family, with a male elder leading his sons and their families. Pastoralists rely on a domesticated herd of animals, for instance, cattle or camels, for food and other products. The herd must be moved from place to place, depending on the seasons, to find food. When the entire group-men, women, and children-move with the herd, anthropologists categorize the movement as "pastoral nomadism." In some herding societies, only part of the group moves with the herd, leaving most of the members behind in a home village. Anthropologists call this "transhumance."
exclusively – only
forage – to look for food
egalitarian – having equal social, political, and economic rights
kinship – a family relationship
adopt – to choose to follow something
hierarchical –separated using different levels of ranking
domesticated – tamed; brought under control for human use
Do the following task.
Directions: Complete the table below by summarizing the characteristics of hunter-gatherers and pastoralists discussed in the passage. Match the appropriate statements to the society they describe. TWO of the answer choices will NOT be used. This question is worth 3 points.
Answer Choices
| Society | Statements |
|---|---|
| Hunter-Gatherer |
|
| Pastoralist |
|
Print the text out. Hightlight all the new words in the text and use a dictionary to translate them in the given text.
Pastoralists and Hunter-Gatherers
The strategy a non-industrial society uses to obtain the resources its members need to survive – especially food – affects its social organization. Thus, societies using the same system of economic production will share some social characteristics, even though they are located in different parts of the world.
For much of human history, human beings were exclusively hunter-gatherers, foraging to meet their dietary and other needs. In such egalitarian societies, the basic social unit is the band. A band is a group of usually fewer than a hundred people, whose members are related through marriage or kinship. Everyone in the band gets an equal share of meat, and there is great social mobility. People marry outside their own band, so a person can choose to live with bands of his or her parents or grandparents. People can change their band membership several times in a lifetime. After marriage, a woman may move with her husband between her band and his.
About 12,000 years ago, humans developed food production in the form of farming and herding. As societies adopted this new economic strategy, social structures changed. A pastoralist, or herding society, is also based on small groups but is much more hierarchical. The main social unit is the extended family, with a male elder leading his sons and their families. Pastoralists rely on a domesticated herd of animals, for instance, cattle or camels, for food and other products. The herd must be moved from place to place, depending on the seasons, to find food. When the entire group-men, women, and children-move with the herd, anthropologists categorize the movement as "pastoral nomadism." In some herding societies, only part of the group moves with the herd, leaving most of the members behind in a home village. Anthropologists call this "transhumance."
Fill in the diagram and summarize the text using it.
Both:
1.
Hunter-Gatherers:
Pastoralists:
A 2.
A 5.
B 3.
B 6.
C 4.
C 7.
- 1: Based on small groups.
- 2: Egalitarian society.
- 3: Basic unit is band.
- 4: Lots of social mobility among bands.
- 5: Hierarchical.
- 6: Extended family headed by father.
- 7: Part or all of group moves with herd.
