delayed-return society

is a society that focuses on past and future as well as the present, holding longterm assets such as livestock, food plants, and storable food, as well as technical equipment, which will yield provisions over an extended time period, and in which there is the right of men to give their female kin in marriage.

delayed-return. A term from a useful distinction made by James Woodburn. In describing hunter-gatherer societies, Woodburn differentiates 'immediate-return' systems those in which work is focused on present concerns, with food and other resources being used soon after they are acquired, disposable tools and weapons being employed in ways requiring little labor, and few assets being held from 'delayed-return' systems those that focus on past and future as well as the present, holding longterm assets such as livestock, food plants, and storable food, as well as technical equipment, which will yield provisions over an extended time period, and in which there is the right of men to give their female kin in marriage. (Morris 2012: 63)

delayed return society, n.All

delayed return society