Human Identity Formation - Essay Example

From the earliest of times, the greatest struggle of man has been for food, food being the most basic need of man. Man has adopted a variety of strategies to acquire food depending upon the environment, circumstances, and conditions at different points in time. From the very beginning, man has gathered food using hunting and gathering. This helped define human identity in terms of male and female roles since men hunted and women gathered. These roles were consistent with the physical attributes of men and women. Man-made certain animals domestic and used them not only for food but also for plowing fields. Pastoralism gave man an identity as a controller of other organisms and especially animals. Horticulture inculcated the same identity in men in terms of controllers of nature especially plants and crops. Pastoralism and horticulture evolved into a variety of professions that play a pivotal role in the food chain. Likewise, agriculture and industry have played their role in the development and modification of people’s micro-level identity. Typically, technological advancement has yielded genetically modified foods that have contributed to society’s well-being and environment in a variety of positive as well as negative ways.