listen to part of a lecture in an anthropology class. We\'ve talked about various types of societies. today, we\'ll consider a theory proposed by a sociologist named Gerhard Lenski. taking elements from established theories in sociology Lenski classified societies into four basic types Hunter, gatherer, horticultural, agrarian and industrial societies, I\'ll write them down. These classifications refer to society\'s primary means of subsistence. how they mainly obtain their resources. Hunter gatherers hunt and gather food. Horticultural and agrarian societies grow crops. but using different technologies. Industrial societies manufacture goods. Lenski argued that a society\'s primary means of subsistence. determines much about their interactions with each other and their social organization. and this had to do with their technology. Lenski theorized that the greater the technological advancement of a society. the more surplus in a society and the greater the inequality among its members. And as you study these various types of societies. you\'ll indeed observe increasing amounts of inequality. up to and including early industrial societies. Let\'s explore lens keys idea. starting with hunter gatherer societies. They were the dominant type of society until about 10,000 years ago. Now some hunter gatherer societies still exist. and studying them can help us in understanding the hunter gatherer lifestyle. Like in the 1960s we studied a group called the ! Kung. who live in Africa\'s Kalahari Desert. The name ! Kung is pronounced with a click sound at the beginning. but we\'ll just say ! Kung. anyway, we learned a lot about hunter gatherer societies from them. Hunter gatherers, primary means of subsistence is hunting animals and gathering shellfish and wild plants. The technology available to them, very simple tools like sticks and stone implements. is used, for example, to dig up wild plants. Significantly, hunter gatherers have to move around a lot. because they follow the herd and the edible plants that are available. this way of life makes it hard to store surplus food for extended periods it did spoil, right? People basically share and fairly quickly consume whatever resources are available. This ends up meaning that everyone\'s social status is about the same. You see, Lenski theorized that status is determined by control of surplus resources. Hunter gatherer societies have no surplus to control. which keeps their status equal. and this relatively equal status often extends to women and men based on cultures we\'ve studied. it\'s probably no surprise to you that their main jobs are different. Men hunt large animals, and women typically gather plants and shellfish. But one thing you probably don\'t know is that, in fact. men in some of these societies contribute to gathering as well. All in all, men and women\'s overall production is roughly equal. Okay, around 10,000 years ago, growing plants rather than gathering wild plants. became the major basis for subsistence for most people this was when horticultural societies first emerged, Tom? So, lots of people everywhere just caught on to domesticating plants. There are several popular hypotheses as to why horticulture emerged. For example, one proposes that global climate change was the primary cause. Warmer climates enabled people to settle and grow food. a competing one cites pressure. Population increases required more dependable food sources. But lots of information has been gathered since these hypotheses were proposed. a single one of these, so called universal causes is unlikely. Probably many large scale factors like these. combined with more local, regional, environmental and social factors played a part. So anyway, horticultural societies can obtain more food than hunter gatherer ones. because people are planting and growing domesticated plants. partly thanks to a new hand held tool, the hoe. The hoe can dig and move soil around. greatly aiding and planting seeds. not as well as plows powered by animals. plows are what distinguish the even more productive agrarian societies from horticultural ones. Anyway, with more food, horticultural societies can support larger populations than hunter gatherer ones. Significantly, horticultural societies mainly plant grains. which can be stored, they don\'t spoil easily. so you can settle for longer periods. and all this means you have the potential for surplus food. and for some people to acquire more surplus than others, right? So some people are going to have higher status in horticultural societies. Why? Because of having more surplus than someone else. So now we\'re seeing the beginnings of material wealth and of status differences in societies.