Page 185 - Sociology and You

Preindustrial (continued)
Agricultural farming 6,000 years ago
Industrial
Industrial England 240 years ago
Postindustrial
Mid-1950s to present. More than half of employed are in the service sector
Chapter 5 Social Structure and Society
155
The division of labor in hunting and gathering societies is limited to the sex and age distinctions found in most families, since the family is the only institution. Men and women are assigned separate tasks, and certain tasks are given to the old, the young, and young adults. There is more leisure time in hunting and gathering societies than in any other. Today, few true hunting and gathering societies remain other than the Khoi-San (Bushmen) in Southern Africa, the Kaska Indians in Canada, and the Yanomamö of Brazil. (See Another Place on page 158.)
Horticultural Societies
A horticultural society solves the subsistence problem primarily through the growing of plants. This type of society came into being about ten to twelve thousand years ago, when people learned they could grow and harvest certain plants instead of simply gathering them. The gradual change from hunting and gathering to horticultural societies occurred over several centuries (Nolan and Lenski, 1999).
The shift from hunting and gathering to horticulture, or gardening, led to more permanent settlements. People no longer needed to move frequently to find food. Even without plows and animals to pull them, they could work a piece of land for extended periods of time before moving on to more fer- tile soil. This relative stability permitted the growth of multicommunity soci- eties averaging one thousand to two thousand people each.
The family is even more basic to social life in horticultural societies than in hunting and gathering societies. In hunting and gathering societies, the sur- vival of the group usually has top priority. In horticultural societies, primary emphasis is on providing for household members. This is because producing food in horticultural societies can be handled through the labor of family members. With the labor necessary for survival, households depend more on themselves and less on others outside the family unit for their subsistence.
horticultural society
a society that survives primarily through the growing of plants