Subsistence

Subsistence means living in a permanently fragile equilibrium between alimentary needs and the means for satisfying them.

The following is a list of subsistence techniques:

• Hunting and Gathering techniques, also known as Foraging:
  • freeganism — involves gathering of discarded food in the context of an urban environment
  • gleaning — involves the gathering of food that traditional farmers have left behind in their fields
• Cultivation:
  • Horticulture — plant cultivation, based on the use of simple tools.
  • subsistence agriculture — agricultural cultivation involving continuous use of arable (crop) land, and is more labor-intensive than horticulture.
• 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 agriculture — non-nomadic pastoralism with a defined territory

• Alternative ends : people devote their time, resources, and energy to five broad categories of ends — subsistence, replacement, social, ceremonial, and rent.
  • Subsistence fund — work is done to replace calories lost through life activities.
  • Replacement fund — work is expended maintaining the technology necessary for life.
  • Social fund — work is expended to establish and maintain social ties.
  • Ceremonial fund — work is expended to fulfill ritual obligations.
  • Rent fund — work is expended to satisfy the obligations owed political or economic superiors.

• 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.

See also

• List of alternative lifestyles
• List of things which are neither production nor consumption
• Staple food
• Society