The human race was once completely dependent on hunting and gathering as its source for caloric intake. Today, this is not the case. We live in a society that is continuously becoming more global, and the large global population is being supported by modern food production. But what factors caused this switch to take place from hunting and gathering to food production? The main contributors over the last several thousand years include: the increase in calorie yield, the stability, and the benefits derived from domesticate-able animals that can all be attributed to food production.
To better understand how these three contributors interact with and influence one another, it is beneficial to examine Abraham Maslow’s well-known Hierarchy of Needs. According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, there are certain aspects of an individual’s life that must be maintained before that person can begin fulfilling their higher or more complex needs. But for the purposes of this paper, we will evaluate societies as a whole instead of just focusing on individuals. The end goal in this theory is to eventually reach self-actualization and fulfillment: the state of being where creativity and innovation are able to flourish. But before a slight hope can be given to that end goal of being achieved, the Maslow’s first sets of needs must be met and maintained. These are categorized as the physiological, meaning that they represent an individual’s need for “air, water, and sufficient calories and nutrients to live.” Hunting and gathering societies and food producing societies approach fulfilling these needs in distinct ways.
Central to the very existence of a hunting and gathering society is the daily need to secure anew these physiological needs. This i...
... middle of paper ...
...le animals. These factors caused the ultimate switch for mankind to become food producers.
Works Cited
Hagerty, Michael R. "Testing Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: National Quality-of-Life across Time." Social Indicators Research 46.3 (1999): 249-71. JSTOR. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
Dow, Gregory K., Nancy Olewiler, and Clyde G. Reed. "The Transition to Agriculture: Climate Reversals, Population Density, and Technical Change." Simon Fraser University, Aug. 2005. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Society. New York: W.W. Norton &, 1999. Print.
"The Neolithic Revolution and the Birth of Civilization." The Neolithic Revolution and the Birth of Civilization. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Locay, Luis. "From Hunting and Gathering to Agriculture." Economic Development and Cultural Change 37.4 (1989): 737. JSTOR. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory that includes a five level pyramid of basic human
Guns, Germs, and Steel was published by Jared Diamond in 1977. Diamond is a UCLA professor and a scientist and his book has received remarkable response all around the world, in fact the book has won Pulitzer Prize and was New York’s bestseller. Despite, being highly regarded, the book is known as one of the most controversial books of its time. A lot of critics have accused this book, but the critic who stood out the most was William H. McNeill. McNeill is a historian and I agree with his criticism of the book and its conclusion.
Gardner, Christopher. Notes from the Doc Talks. Stanford University. Web. April 10, 2014. Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York:
Ellis, John. The Social History of the Machine Gun. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1986. Print.
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W. W.
Maslow believed that there was a hierarchy of five innate needs that influence people’s behaviors (Schultz & Schultz, 2013, p.246-247). In a pyramid fashion, at the base are physiological needs, followed by safety needs, then belonginess and love needs, succeeded by esteem needs, and finally the need for self-actualization. Maslow claimed that lower order needs must be at least partially satisfied before higher level needs are addressed. Furthermore, behavior is dominated by solely one need
In an agricultural society people started to farm and there were less to no hunting which changed their diets dramatically. When people were hunting and gathering they were getting a healthy and a well-balanced diet. Before agriculture people ate many various wild plants and animals therefore, they had better nutrition. For example, the Kalahari Bushmen’s daily intake was “2,140 calories and 93 grams of protein” (Diamond 2). Also when Diamond is comparing the two societies, he talks about the balance of nutrients and diet, also he states that the “Kalahari Bushmen eat a variety of 75 or so different wild plants” and receive more calories than needed. As the people switched over to agriculture, the amount of food they had become more plentiful and predictable but unhealthy. Nowadays, more people are overweight especially in the western area of the world. This proves that people before agriculture were healthy and had a decent
Psychologist Abraham Maslow created the hierarchy of needs, outlining and suggesting what a person need to reach self-actualization and reveal the true potential of themselves. In the model, Maslow propose that a person has to meet basic needs in order to reach the true potential of themselves. Biological/physiological needs, safety needs, love/belonging need, esteem needs according to Maslow is the fundamental frame for reaching the peak of self. The last need to be met on the scale
People have long considered general theories of motivation, and the question regarding the specific motives that direct and energize our human behavior has undergone tremendous speculation. To this day the question still stands: what is it that humans seek most in life? In an effort to answer this question, Abraham Maslow proposed what he called the hierarchy of needs. Maslow theorizes that human beings are motivated to fulfill this hierarchy, which consists of needs ranging from those that are basic for survival up to those that promote growth and self-enhancement (Kassin 300).
Similarly, Maslow's theory also reflects that humans have an internal force to reach their highest potential (Maslow, 1968). Maslow examined the hierarchy of basic human needs and developed a pyramid of requirements which motivates human beings and shapes their personality. At the bottom of his pyramid are found the basic physiological motivations which are necessary for survival such as food and shelter. The next level incorporates the need for safety, both physical and psychological. This is followed by love and belongingness which relate to receiving and giving affection. Presuming the love need is met, the next level up is the need for esteem which includes the feeling of self-esteem and self-respect. At the top of the pyramid stands the complex need for self-actualization which is a meta-need as per Maslow (1964) and we can reach it through peak experiences. It is the highest level of growth when someone reached her or his capacity to the fullest. Maslow estimated that only 1 percent of people ever really fulfil this need (Maslow,
Abraham Maslow did studies of the basic needs of human beings. He put these needs into a hierarchical order. This means that until the need before it has been satisfied, the following need can not be met (Encyclopedia, 2000). For example, if someone is hungry they are not thinking too much about socializing. In the order from lowest to highest the needs are psychological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. The first three are classified as lower order needs and the last two are higher order (Hierarchy, 2000). Without meeting these needs workers are not going to be as productive as they could otherwise. The first three are considered to be essential to all humans at all times. The last two have been argued but are mostly considered to be very important as well.
In this essay I aim to identify the needs of humans and how they have been met from the early days of humanity, right through to the present day. I will be placing a lot of emphasis on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as this is the most widely accepted model and it makes sense that humans will have progressed up this hierarchy over time, this is something I will be exploring in the essay.
Over the 10,000 years since agriculture began to be developed, peoples everywhere have discovered the food value of wild plants and animals, and domesticated and bred them. The most important crops are cereals such as wheat, rice, barley, corn, and rye; sugarcane and sugar beets; meat animals such as sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs or swine; poultry such as chickens, ducks, and turkeys; animal products such as milk, cheese, and eggs; and nuts and oils. Fruits, vegetables, and olives are also major foods for people. Feed grains for animals include soybeans, field corn, and sorghum. Separate articles on individual plants and animals contain further information.
Abraham Maslow wrote the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. This theory was based on fulfilling five basic needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. Maslow believed that these needs could create internal pressures that could influence the behavior of a person. (Robbins, p.204)
Establishing an adequate supply of food is historically one of the fundamental challenges facing mankind. The modern food infrastructure employed by contemporary society is rooted in the creation and innovation of food production. Its effective utilization decreases the level of societal labor contribution required and discourages food shortage trepidation amongst individuals. It is hard to fathom given the current status of our society massive agricultural-industrial complex that the hunter-gatherer organization of society dominated for more than 99 percent of our existence (Fagan 2007: 126). The hunter-gatherer population was characterized by their primary subsistence method, which involved the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild. The primary methods employed were foraging and hunting, which were conducted without any significant recourse to the domestication of either food source (Fagan 2007: 129). Food production is presumed to have emerged approximately 12,000 years ago as a system of “deliberate cultivation of cereal grasses, edible root plants, and animal domestication” (Fagan 2007: 126). The pronounced change from hunting and gathering to agriculture and domestication can be simplistically designated the Agricultural or Neolithic Revolution (Pringle 1998). The catalytic developments of the Neolithic Revolution mark a major turning point in the history of humankind. The resulting animal and plant domestication established the foundation on which modern civilization was built.