Lifeway

A lifeway is the ecological position of human beings within a larger ecosystem - such as a food web. It is studied by cultural ecology, anthropological linguistics and cultural anthropology.

The most basic distinction usually made between lifeways is that between the hunter-gatherer (including fishers) and that of the farmer - including the shepherd, goatherd or rancher - the farmer who domesticates wildlife to raise for food and clothing.

Urban lifeways (trading on relationships or information, manufacturing which requires infrastructural capital at hand, etc.) are studied by urban economics but are also technically lifeways in the same sense as that of the hunter-gatherer and farmer.

See also: lifestyle