Editing Society (section)

==== Hunting and gathering ====
{{Main article|Hunter-gatherer}}
[[File:BushmenSan.jpg|thumb|alt=refer to caption |[[San people]] in Botswana start a fire by hand.]]
The main form of food production in hunter-gatherer societies is the daily collection of wild plants and the hunting of wild animals. Hunter-gatherers move around constantly in search of food.{{sfn|Lenski|Lenski|1974|p=135}} As a result, they do not build permanent [[villages]] or create a wide variety of [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]]. The need for mobility also limits the size of these societies, and they usually only form small groups such as [[Band society|bands]] and [[tribe]]s,{{sfn|Lenski|Lenski|1974|p=134}} usually with fewer than 50 people per community.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Lee |first1=Richard B. |last2=Daly |first2=Richard H. |year=1999 |chapter=Introduction: Foragers & Others |encyclopedia=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=3 |isbn=0-521-57109-X |lccn=98038671 |oclc=39654919}}</ref>{{sfn|Lenski|Lenski|1974|p=134}} Bands and tribes are relatively [[Egalitarian community|egalitarian]], and decisions are reached through [[Consensus decision-making|consensus]]. There are no formal political offices containing real power in band societies, rather a [[Tribal chief|chief]] is merely a person of influence, and [[leadership]] is based on personal qualities.{{sfn|Lenski|Lenski|1974|p=146}} The family forms the main [[Social group|social unit]], with most members being related by birth or marriage.{{sfn|Lenski|Lenski|1974|p=142}}

The anthropologist [[Marshall Sahlins]] described hunter-gatherers as the "[[original affluent society]]" due to their extended leisure time: Sahlins estimated that adults in hunter gatherer societies work three to five hours per day.<ref name="sahlins">{{cite book |last=Sahlins |first=Marshall D. |author-link=Marshall Sahlins |editor-last1=Lee |editor-first1=Richard B. |editor-last2=DeVore |editor-first2=Irven |title=Man the Hunter |chapter=Discussions, Part II: Notes on the Original Affluent Society |publisher=Aldine Publishing Company |year=1968 |location=Chicago, Illinois |pages=85–89 |lccn=67017603 |oclc=490234}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sahlins |first=Marshall D. |author-link=Marshall Sahlins |year=1972 |chapter=The Original Affluent Society |title=Stone Age Economics |publisher=Aldine-Atherton, Inc. |publication-place=Chicago, Illinois |page=34 |isbn=0-202-01098-8 |lccn=75169506 |oclc=363958 |chapter-url=http://www.primitivism.com/original-affluent.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001191830/http://www.primitivism.com/original-affluent.htm |archive-date=1 October 2019 |access-date=9 January 2024 |quote=Reports on hunters and gatherers of the ethnological present—specifically on those in marginal environments—suggest a mean of three to five hours per adult worker per day in food production.}}</ref> This perspective has been challenged by other researchers, who have pointed out high mortality rates and perennial warfare in hunter-gatherer societies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=Kim |last2=Hurtado |first2=A. M. |last3=Walker |first3=R. S. |title=High adult mortality among Hiwi hunter-gatherers: Implications for human evolution |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=443–454 |date=April 2007 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.11.003 |pmid=17289113 |bibcode=2007JHumE..52..443H |eissn=1095-8606 |issn=0047-2484 |lccn=72623558 |oclc=925940973}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Keeley |first=Lawrence H. |author-link=Lawrence H. Keeley |year=1996 |chapter=Crying Havoc: The Question of Causes |pages=113–126 |title=War Before Civilization |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=0-19-509112-4 |lccn=94008998 |oclc=30158105}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Kaplan |first=David |title=The Darker Side of the 'Original Affluent Society' |journal=Journal of Anthropological Research |volume=56 |number=3 |pages=287–484 |date=Autumn 2000 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |doi=10.1086/jar.56.3.3631086 |s2cid=140333399 |eissn=2153-3806 |issn=0091-7710 |lccn=2006237061 |oclc=60616192}}</ref> Proponents of Sahlins' view argue that the general well-being of humans in hunter gatherer societies challenges the purported relationship between technological advancement and [[Progress|human progress]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gowdy |first=John |editor-last1=Lee |editor-first1=Richard B. |editor-last2=Daly |editor-first2=Richard H. |year=2005 |title=Hunter-Gatherers and the Mythology of the Market |encyclopedia=Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=391–398 |isbn=0-521-57109-X |lccn=98038671 |oclc=39654919 |url=http://libcom.org/history/hunter-gatherers-mythology-market-john-gowdy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224174603/http://libcom.org/history/hunter-gatherers-mythology-market-john-gowdy |archive-date=24 February 2021 |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Lewis |first=Jerome |editor-last1=Watkins |editor-first1=Stuart |date=September 2008 |title=Managing abundance, not chasing scarcity: the real challenge for the 21st century |issue=2 |journal=Radical Anthropology |url=http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/new/Journal_files/journal_02.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513015838/http://www.radicalanthropologygroup.org/new/Journal_files/journal_02.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2013 |access-date=9 January 2024}}</ref>