TYPES OF PRIMITIVE ECONOMY

INTRODUCTION

Primitive economic order was depend upon weather conditions like rain, sun flood. The division of labor was based on age and sex. The concept of personal property was at initial stage. The primitive society was self-sufficient in fulfilling its economic needs. Therefore the system of commerce did not develop in these societies. From whatever was left from the hunting and collection of food, developed the customs like gift or present, hospitality, free lending, free borrowing and common use. In these communities individual prestige or familial prestige was considered more valuable than property. In primitive society exchange was chiefly based on barter system.

Definition of Key Terms

Primitive means relating to, denoting, or preserving the character of an early stage in the evolutionary or historical development of something, or something lacking in sophistication, or not advanced, or bare-bones condition or instincts that resemble animal-instincts and don't require thought, (http://www.yourdictionary.com/primitive).

An economy is a system which tries to balance the available resources of a country (land, labour, capital and enterprise) against the wants and needs of consumers. Economy within the society it deals with three key issues such as; what is produced, how it is produced, and who gets what is produced (http://businesscasestudies.co.uk). 

An economy consists of the production, distribution or trade, and consumption of limited goods and services by different agents in a given geographical location.

Primitive economy is an underdeveloped economy in which communities use primitive tools and methods to harvest and hunt for food, often resulting in little economic growth. Traditional economies are often found in rural regions with high levels of subsistence farming,   (http://www.investorwords.com/ traditional economy).

Primitive economy is an economic system heavily influenced by habits, customs, and religious beliefs. Children generally “inherit” the occupations of their parents, and difficult to introduce new ideas, (http://www.slideshare.net/mxcastro/economic-systems).

Principles of primitive economy

In brief, the principles of primitive economy according to James (2005) are as follows:

1. Economic relationships are based on barter and exchange. There is no provision of currency. There are no banks and other credit societies.

2. Economic system is based upon social customs, physical conditions and faith in ancestors. Almost no primitive crosses their limits. Profit is seldom the motive of economic activities. Mutual obligations and unity perform the function of motivation. Give and take among primitives is the basis of economic system.

3. Mutual cooperation and collective enterprises are characteristics of primitive economy. According to Thurnwald, the Indian tribes depict a strong communal organization.

4. There are no regular markets. Weekly moving markets are the bases of exchange. There is no monopoly and cut throat competition characteristic of civilized society.

5. There is no institution of private property. All the land is collectively owned. Land is equally divided among families and each family cultivates land allotted to it. There is more consumption than production. Consumption includes food, clothes and housing.

6. Economic values change in decades. Mostly, stability, equality and simplicity are the hall marks of primitive economy. This is particularly true about procedures and techniques. There is no specialization.

Advantages of primitive economy

The advantages of this type of economic system include the fact that there is a better understanding of the roles of members of the society; have a clear knowledge of their role, and clear division of roles means there is little need for unrest or discontent within the economy, (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-advantages-of-a-traditional-economy).  

TYPES OF PRIMITIVE ECONOMY
There are three types of primitive economy which are Hunting and gather economy, Nomad or pastoral economy, and Subsistence/ agricultural economy as follows:-

Hunter and gather economy, This is the type of primitive economy whereby they involve on hunting animals and gathering fruits, honey, vegetables, eggs, as well as roots from nature. Generally they produce for their own consumption. Hunting and gather economy also involving fishing activities especially those societies surrounded ocean, lakes, and rivers. Tools that were used in hunter and gather economies were characterized with low technology like the use of stone, sticks, pebbles, arrows, spears, and so forth. 

Examples of societies practicing hunter and gather economy by 1850 were San (Bushmen) around Karahari desert in Southern Africa, Pygmies in Congo region of Central Africa, Hadzabe and Tindiga near Lake Eyasi in Arusha Tanzania, Dorobo in Kenya, Teso in Uganda, and Sandawe near the rock painting in Dodoma. This type of economy being practice and owned as a communal, and a situation of simple distribution occurs when an animal is killed in a hunt. Since the killing of an animal is usually a co-operative activity one might expect to find it portioned out according to the amount of work done by each hunter to obtain it.  The division of work within hunter and gather economy were based on sex whereby women played a role of collection of fruits and roots while men involved on hunting and/ or fishing.

Nomad or pastoral economy, Nomad or pastoral economy is a type of primitive economy whereby based  on traditional keeping of animals while moving from one place to another where the main focus were searching for pastures and water for their  animals. Examples of the societies practiced nomadic or pastoral economy were Maasai of Tanzania and Kenya, and Kalamajong in Uganda. Generally, within this type of economy, societies were not having permanent settlement because most of time they moved from one area to another seasonally depending on availability of food, water and pastures.  

Kind of animals under nomad and pastoral economy were goats, sheep’s, chicken, donkey, and cattle’s. Through this type of economy, the medium of exchange were through exchange of goods for goods means exchange either between cattle and maize, or goat and millet or sorghum which known by the name of “Batter System”.  The divisions of work within this type of economy were basically on age and sex, for example within Maasai people of Tanzania categorized them into four grouped such as Children, Women, Moran, and Elders with different role.

Subsistence/ agricultural economy, within substance economy what they produced was not meant for exchange. They produced to consume them so as to stay alive. A subsistence economy is a non-monetary economy which relies on natural resources to provide for basic needs, through hunting, gathering, and subsistence agriculture. "Subsistence" means supporting oneself at a minimum level, in a subsistence economy, economic surplus is minimal and only used to trade for basic goods, and there is no industrialization. The medium of exchange within this type of economy was through batter system. Also Subsistence or agriculture economy involved agricultural activities with poor tools of production and low technologies like the use of hand hoe, axes, bushfire, and stones, and animal bones it was commonly in East Africa.

CONCLUSION

All of East African societies passed through primitive economy whereby by 1850 many of them had moved from these type of economy and there were only few societies which were still practicing primitive economies they include San (Bushmen) around Karahari desert in Southern Africa, Pygmies in Congo region of Central Africa, Hadzabe and Tindiga near Lake Eyasi in Arusha Tanzania, Dorobo in Kenya, Teso in Uganda, and Sandawe near the rock painting in Dodoma (James, 2005).

REFERENCES

James, S. (2005), Afican History: From 19^th -21^st Century, Dar es Salaam, STC-Publisher

Retrieved on April 5, 2014 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-advantages-of-a-traditional-economy 

Retrieved on April 5, 2014: from http://www.investorwords.com/ traditional economy

Retrieved on April 5, 2014: from http://www.slideshare.net/mxcastro/economic-systems

Retrieved on April 5, 2014: from http://www.yourdictionary.com/primitive

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WRITTEN BY AUSI CHIWAMBO (2014)-TEOFILO KISANJI UNIVERSITY