PRIMITIVE ECONOMIC SYSTEMS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS - ECONOMY - 2025

The primitive economic systems are prehistoric rules that made use of technology and natural resources to ensure continuous cooperation in the provision of material goods.

The particular meaning of economic is not analytically informative in the investigation of specific economies, due to the great diversity of existing technical and institutional structures.

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However, it has the merit of pointing out and explaining the general existence of organizational requirements for the sustained provision of material goods, which must be met in any society. This is what anthropologists mean when they refer to the economic aspects of primitive society.

Primitive societies used natural resources in an unsystematic way due to the scarcity of modern machines and tools. On the contrary, they used other techniques and methods to survive. For example, primitive tribes practiced shifting cultivation.

List of economic systems of prehistory

Economic hunting and gathering system

This is the primitive economy system where you participate in hunting animals and gathering fruits, vegetables, eggs, and roots from nature. It also involves fishing activities, especially in those societies that surround the ocean, lakes and rivers.

The tools that were used in this economy were characterized by their low technology, such as the use of stones, sticks, arrows, spears, etc.

This type of economy is practiced and owned at the community level, and there was a simple distribution of labor when an animal was killed in a hunt.

Since the slaughter of an animal is usually a cooperative activity, it might be expected that the portions were distributed according to the amount of work done by each hunter to obtain it.

The division of labor was based on sex, whereby women played a role in gathering fruits and roots, while men participated in hunting and / or fishing.

With the surplus from hunting and gathering food, customs such as gifts, hospitality, and free loans were developed. In these communities, individual or family prestige was considered more valuable than property.

Production-consumption economic system

The primitive economic organizations were subsistence. That is, they fall into the category of production-consumption economies. An important reason for this is the absence of technological aids in their attempts to exploit nature, as illustrated by shifting cultivation.

Shifting cultivation means that the same plot of land is not cultivated for long, with cultivators moving from one plot to another. The reasons for doing so are various.

The diminishing yield to the land as a result of continuous cultivation can be counteracted by suitable compost. But compost represents a rather advanced scientific invention for cultivation.

Primitive people were not aware of the various ways that exist to preserve soil fertility through compost. Therefore, shifting cultivation was the only alternative for them.

This was facilitated by the fact that prehistoric people could easily explore and exploit virgin lands. Obviously, such kind of cultivation is useless, inefficient and uneconomical today, due to the large number of people that inhabit the planet.

Primitive society was self-sufficient in meeting its economic needs. Therefore, the formal trading system did not develop in these societies.

Nomadic or pastoral economic system

The nomadic or pastoral economy is a primitive economic system that is based on the traditional maintenance of animals, while tribes move from one place to another. The main focus is finding pasture and water for their animals.

In general, within this type of economy, societies did not have permanent settlements, because most of the time they moved from one area to another according to the availability of food, water and pastures.

The most frequent types of animals in the nomadic and pastoral economy were goats, sheep, chickens, donkeys and cows. Through this type of economy, the method of commerce consisted of exchanging goods for goods, such as exchanging cattle for corn, goats for cereal, etc.

Among the shepherds, there is no ownership of the land. The grasses were used together. Similarly, cultivators owned their land at the community level.

The divisions of labor within this type of economy were basically based on age and sex.

Economic system of exchanges

The weekly moving markets are the foundation of the exchange. There is no monopoly or competition characteristic of civilized society.

There was no supply of coins. There were also no banks or other credit societies. Therefore, in the absence of money as a measure of value and a medium of exchange, economic transactions were always based on exchange. There were various forms of exchange prevalent in primitive societies.

Barter

It is a direct form of exchange. It involves bargaining and haggling, unless it is regulated by rules or customs. Money does not figure in barter transactions. It is an exchange of:

- Service for service.

- Goods for service.

- Goods for goods.

Absence of profit motive

The profit motive that is generally associated with economic transactions is generally absent in a primitive economy.

The necessary incentive in all economic activities was provided by a sense of mutual obligation, sharing, and solidarity.

Economic subsistence system

In primitive societies, what was produced was not to be exchanged. They produced to consume and thus stay alive. The subsistence economy is an economy without money, based on natural resources to satisfy the most basic needs, through gathering, hunting and subsistence agriculture.

The word subsistence means to keep oneself at a minimum level. Therefore, in the subsistence economy, the economic surplus is minimal. This is only used to trade commodities, without industrialization.

Also the subsistence economy involved agricultural activities with poor production tools and low technologies, such as axes, stones and animal bones.

Community economic system

Primitive societies show strongly developed characteristics of communal economies. All activities, from the construction of shelters to the production of primary consumer goods, are carried out through the collective efforts of community members.

All land is collectively owned. The land is equally divided between the families, and each of them cultivates the land that has been assigned to them. There is more consumption than production. Consumption includes food, clothing and housing.

In the case of communal property, the group as a whole never suddenly ceases to exist as an individual does. Its members are periodically replenished through a new recruitment.

References

1. George Dalton (2019). Economic Theory and Primitive Society. Anthro Source. Taken from: anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com.
2. Sikesh Dey (2019). What are the main principles of primitive economy? Preserve Articles. Taken from: preservearticles.com.
3. Peter J. Boettke, Robert L. Heilbroner (2019). Economic system. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Taken from: britannica.com.
4. Sonal Gautta (2019). 7 Main Features of Primitive Societies. Sociology Discussion. Taken from: sociologydiscussion.com.
5. Discussion QN (2014). Types of Primitive Economy. Taken from: discussionqn.blogspot.com.