Question

Write a 500-750-word essay that describes the primary units of social organization in hunting and gathering societies. Discuss the factors of group cohesion and the components of social privilege and social control, paying close attention to the components' relationship to subsistence strategy and economics.

Answer 1

Hunters and gatherers:

The hunters and gatherers are the societies that depended on wild animals, fruits, berries for their food. They are less developed than the agricultural societies who depend on horticultural means such as plants, grass for their food.

Primitive social organization:

The primary units of social organization in hunters and gatherers are primitive social organization. The family is the main unit of this type of social entity. The males' and females’ needs and wants are met in the family as an entire unit. The types of family are:

1. Nuclear family

2. Joint family

3. Matriarchal family

4. Patriarchal family

Group cohesion:

It states that people work together as bonds and cooperate to do tasks as a team. They unite with each other to perform tasks cohesively.

For example, in the workplace, sales team meetings are seen as group cohesiveness where the team leader directs the team members to work cooperatively to achieve the sales targets.

Social privilege:

It means that a person is getting some special social rights that other individuals probably envy. It may a social status or a luxurious lifestyle that a person might obtain.

For example, a person has a social status if he is owning a Ferrari or Lamborghini because the other persons do not have it.

The components of social privilege are:

1. Demographics

2. Psychographics

3. Geographic

4. Socio-cultural

5. Ethnicity

6. Race

7. Religion

8. Social class

Social control:

It is a way in which people’s behavior is controlled with the norms and regulations of society. It is used to maintain proper law and order for society.

For example, social control is necessary to reduce crime rates in the country.

The components of social control are:

1. Surveillance: It is necessary to monitor the crimes occurring in the country. Surveillance cameras such as CCTV help the law enforcement agencies to track the criminals doing theft or murders.

2. Norms and regulations: They are necessary to maintain a proper decorum of society. Federal law protects the citizens’ rights with different penal codes as per the penal codes.

3. Examination: They are used as criteria to examine the nature of the work carried out by the people such as students, office workers.

4. For example, students answer papers in examinations and abide by the rules and regulations of the school or universities.

Subsistence strategies: The agricultural people work towards finding food by hunting animals and depending on wild plants for their food resources.

Relationship of the components of social privilege and social control on subsistence strategies:

Social privilege components’ relationship on subsistence strategies: Ethnic backgrounds and geographical locations influence the groups of people based on subsistence strategies.

For example, Tibetan and African groups of people will have different ways of hunting their food resources since they belong to different ethnic and geographical locations. They will have different tastes and may not hunt the same species of animals.

Social control components’ relationship on subsistence strategies: The ancient groups of people used to observe closely for wild animals before hunting for their food. The surveillance method was used during those times to keep track of the wildlife.

Relationship of social privilege’s components on economics:

Different ethnic backgrounds may seem to hinder government policies, induce trade wars and escalate political tensions across the globe. This leads to an impact on the economic situation negatively.

Relationship of social control’s components on economics:

Norms and regulations of the nation will help the government to impose taxes on the goods produced and exported to the other countries. This is helpful to increase profitability and improve economic situations across the world.

Proper surveillance is carried out by quality experts in government agencies to monitor the performance of their employees.

Conclusion: We have discussed the primitive social organization and examined the relationships of social privilege and social control’s components on subsistence strategies and economics.