“Man’s economic and social activities have always. been conditioned by his physical geographical environment. ” Discuss this statement.
It is very difficult to say exactly what is covered by the term ‘economic and social activities. The term has to be understood in the context of man’s economic activities and of his social activities. That is to say, though economic activities and social activities impinge on each other and are interconnected, those two types of activities have to be considered separately for the purpose of discussing whether they have always been conditioned by the physical geographical environment.
The term ‘economics’ is derived from the Greek oikumene – ‘household’ – and every housewife performs an economic activity when she decides how to spend her family budget. Even Robinson Crusoe on his desert island had to allocate his time between fishing, planting crops, or building his house and how to ration the limited supplies he had salvaged from his ship. Robinson Crusoe, however, lived in a very simple economy. Until Man Friday appeared, he had to do everything himself. Today economic activity is specialised and coordinated through markets in all but the subsistence economies in the least developed parts of the Third World where families grow their food and make what else they need.
In economic terms, a market is not only a particular place where people buy and sell, such as a fish or fruit market but also includes all those who are in contact with sellers and buyers of particular goods and services and can bring them together.
What is important to note is that any economic activity aims at the production of wealth to meet man’s needs. In his primitive day’s man hunted and found food for himself; food to him was wealth, and that was what he needed. He depended on his environment for the kind of animals he could hunt for food. Later, when man began to till the soil, he cultivated only those plants that the soil of the region in which he lived was suitable for. So, he grew rice, wheat, or other cereals, depending on the nature of the soil where he pursued his agricultural activity.
As years passed by he found that certain items which he did not have, he would be able to get from other places through a system of barter. That is to say, his economic activity got linked with the economic activity of people from other regions because of the scarcity of certain items he was in need of. The barter system gave way to selling and buying for money.
From what is said above it is clear that man could pursue his economic activity in his early history only with the help of what was available or what could be made available to him from his environment. This is by and large true today too. The resources available in a country determine its economic activity. For example, in the Gulf countries, the main economic activity centers around the production of oil. India which has extensive land remains primarily an agricultural country; this is so with countries like China and Russia. In India itself, depending on the environmental conditions that vary from region to region, agricultural activities present a diverse spectrum. For example, in Bengal and Kerala rice is produced whereas in the Punjab wheat is grown; so also, in many parts of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh sugar cane is grown. This variety is due to the differences in climatic conditions and the character of the soil.
Growing coconuts, rubber, and pepper is agricultural activity in Kerala. This is because of the suitability of the environment there for the cultivation of these crops. Malaysia grows rubber in wide areas. Again, it is because of the suitability of the environment.
Industries that have their moorings in agricultural activities are also conditioned by the environment. Rubber is an agricultural product. But rubber is the base for several industries. For industries to grow we require raw materials. Raw materials are products of the environment. This is why mining coal, gold, minerals, and metals as economic activity continues to depend on the environment.
Not all economic activities need to be conditioned by the environment. This is because the world has shrunk because of easier and quicker modes of communication and transport. Industries that bring in wealth can be located in areas that have nothing to do with the environment. A thermal plant need not necessarily be situated in a place where coal is easily available. Factories manufacturing fertilizers, for the same reason, need not be dependent on the environment.
Social activities are very much bound up with economic and industrial activities. The social activities of an agricultural community are different from those of a community of people running industries. This is why there is a great divergence between the lifestyles of those in cities and towns and of those in villages. The social activities of a people are determined by their economic welfare, and the economic welfare in turn is conditioned by the environment. So, it is by and largely true to say that the social activities of a people have a bearing on the environment.
Social activities are an outward expression of the culture of a people. By `culture’ we mean a people’s way of life, their food habits, dress, manners, etc. In Kerala and Bengal, people eat rice and fish, wear loin clothes, engage themselves in festivities that have sprung from the native soil largely influenced by the environment and climate.
In conclusion, we may say that both economic and social activities are interlinked in such a way that the one cannot be divorced from the other. The wealth that one produces from economic activities utilizing the resources available to him in his environment becomes the guiding factor of his social activities.
