The Rice Theory of Culture

The rice theory of culture is the idea that farming societies developed into more interdependent, tight cultures in response to demands plant. Farming general an interdependent subsistence style, but traditional paddy was starkly different from other major crops like wheat, corn, and potatoes. Paddy required twice as much labor per hectare wheat farming. Farmers responded by creating customs share labor. also depended on irrigation systems flood drain fields. Once farmers controlled water, they now had coordinate how water each farmer got, when their fields, divide for repairing canals. This created a society, where people other, individual less freedom movement. article gives overview theory, summarizes recent evidence cultural differences between societies, then lays out unanswered questions future research.