The Different Understanding Of Goods Possessions By Hunter Gatherers And Modern Society

Life was satisfying for the hunting and gathering society as the abundance of food resources were widely available in their environment and was enough to feed themselves and their families. Feeding the whole community only consumed a short amount of time (Hodgkinson, et al., 1845). Starvation was extremely rare in the primitive society due to the richness of natural resources that was borderless and not owned by specific tribe or individual, everyone could just take or hunt anything they desired because there were no laws enforced which restricted the capacity of the society to hunt animals or explore the forest. Basically, they were the very most free society that had ever exist. Food scarcity had never been occurred in the country along the eastern coast, which was wrongly perceived by many writers (Hodgkinson, 1845, p. 227). Whereas, starvation and food scarcity has always been happened in many modern nations because of their dependence on monetary issues to consume food. Businesses, financial institutions and government played a vital role in what transpire the scarcity of food because their dominance in the modern society. Most of the food consumption aside from hunting in the modern society played a long process before it can fill the person’s stomach, the food had to be manufactured in factory, supplied to the department or convenient store and had to be purchased by using monetary values.

Social hierarchy like other human societies were also present in hunter gatherer society but the attributes were not clearly prevalent and similar to class or caste systems which is quite distinct in Capitalist and Indian society. The form of hierarchies and the degree of organization between members was mostly in terms of spiritual, the usage of land and the divisions of labor. Even though there had been an existence of the social hierarchies, community members tend to work in a mutual assistance as they have the same goal which is to provide food and ensure a protection among them. According to Johnson (1982), he states that “...individuals form a nested series of discrete, yet flexible social units that occupy space and exchange energetic,material and informational resources at differential rates”. This implies that a not so clear prevalent hierarchy can also be the main reason on why hunter gatherer were not interested in possessing so many goods which attribute to wealth as the there were no influences which inspire them to do so aside from their instinct of hunting animals for food. Aside from that, there was an absence of class hierarchy due to the closeness of social relations amongst them as they act together as one unit in the tribes.

In contrast, modern society are often separated by class distinctions (lower, middle and upper class) due to socioeconomic activities in pursuit of unlimited consumption which was initialized by industrialization and massive wealth as a sign of respectability. Materialistic behaviour has been embedded in the mentality of the modern society as people has been influenced by mass media since childhood by looking at different types of products being shown without our realization. The products’ quality and brand are often associated with status, which the higher the quality, the higher the status even though the products were not a life necessity. These products are varied in terms of timepieces, handbag, shoes, clothing, automobiles and electronic devices. Example of products that are classified as expensive and often associated with but not entirely to high status individuals are branded items such as Rolex watch, Prada handbag, Timberland shoes, Gucci clothing, Mercedes cars and an iPhone smartphone. This in turn impacts consumers’ behaviour in managing their spending as the media constantly persuading people to buy specific things. The class divisions are more harmful to the lower class as they are often the victims of modern consumer society in which they have to resist constant persuasion of unlimited wants due to limited wants this cannot fulfill the self-satisfaction. Often, this can lead to other illegal methods to fulfill their desire such as theft and robbery.

Sharing was the customary and crucial part that of what was practiced in the systems of the hunter-gatherers as it serves as the primary distribution of food to ensure everyone is well fed and taken care of. This doctrine could be translated as ‘egalitarianism’ in which members of the society were served equally in terms of wealth and power which enable all members to utilize available resources which could also be due to a shared ‘collective conscience’. Hunting in the primitive society usually takes form of a small group which primarily consists of adult males. The meat then was equally distributed to all members of the society and the process of receiving and giving continued to persist within the society. Hunter gatherers have been observed to have this mentality and they were seen to happily serve the meat that was cooked in their shelter or place were to other guests who visit their home even if they were not family members and the meat still ends up being equally shared (Chakraborty, n.d.). The presence of ‘mechanical solidarity’ and the system itself automatically prevent the individuals from possessing a high abundance of goods beyond their needs, the accumulation of wealth at this time was intrinsically not even possible due to a social obligation in which the survivability of their own kind had to be at the highest of importance

In regards to modern society, individual needs are emphasized as the progress of human nature demands the rights of the self to be guaranteed due to the technological advancement and major economic change that influenced the behaviour of society itself. The sharing of economy was not relevant and was unsustainable due to the different beliefs, ideas and attitudes of the members of society which transpired an ‘organic solidarity’ within most of industrialized nations that regulate available resources. Individuals had to have their own occupations in order to support themselves with each one of them having different skills and qualifications which result in the dependency amongst each other. The system itself was meant to improve the livelihood of the modern consumer society but often was perceived by the specific part of society as an opportunity and as a method to consume vast amount of goods and possess wealth. This in turn creates an inequality as class distinctions drives members of society to climb up the class hierarchy. Those who did not have skills or were unemployed without being supported are expected to be left behind as the means produced by other individuals will not be shared with the former except by their own ‘goodwill’ which stemmed from others who had sacrificed their own energy, time and opportunity cost in order to generate income to make their ‘ends meet’ while the unemployed or unskilled labours who were on a different context do not share the same exact situation as the former, and they do not see the need to share their means with them. Thus, as the modern consumer society have become more individualized, self-fulfilled and privatized, it is only natural for them to follow their own path which is either by working hard to generate more wealth to fulfill self-satisfaction or be trapped in debt.

To summarize, the perception of goods by both societies were differently understood by the two types of societies as the situational and environmental conditions such as history, technology, the concept of poor, hierarchy and the social solidarity were at a huge difference. Hunter gatherers tend to be content with fewer possessions of goods due to their prioritization of mobility to find food resources for survival and the shared values that everyone should be cooperative to find food. On the other hand, modern consumer societies in which individual rights over group has become a norm in which it should be respected if the individual desires to possess massive goods to achieve prestige. Apart from that, the primitive technology at that time hinder them from accumulating wealth in which it becomes a burden. Whereas, the modern consumer society can collect and carry their wealth everywhere as the advanced technology made it possible and convenient thus will not stop modern society to achieve whatever possible, nor impossible in regards to their unlimited wants.