Foraging society

Foragers of the Agta people in the Phillippines

Foraging society refers to an adaptive strategy adopted by a culture. There are five primary adaptive strategies:

• Foraging
• Horticulture
• Pastoralism
• Agriculture
• Industrialism

Foraging represents a pre-farming economy based upon scavenging, hunting, and gathering resources. Although often disparaged by modern ethnocentric humans as primitive and brutal, recent research has shown that pre-modern, foraging societies offered a lifestyle that would be envied by many wage slaves in western countries. Very few hours per week are expended in these societies to collect the basic necessities of life, leaving the remainder of the tribe's time for playing, art, community activities, and general enjoyment of the natural world.