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Re:Amazon soars to more than 341K employees, adding 110K peo... by icebraining on Friday February 03, 2017 @02:45PM (#13562631)
While I'm not arguing it's technically wrong, that definition of subsistence farmer seems kind of useless. I mean, even in the Early Bronze Age, you had people who were not full-time farmers, which implies there was some surplus from the others. Seems like you'd have to be very precise to produce exactly enough to eat but with no surplus to use.
Re:Amazon soars to more than 341K employees, adding 110K peo... by spenczar5 on Friday February 03, 2017 @03:39PM (#13563097)
That's just what the term means, I'm afraid. I agree that it rarely has occurred in history. It's most often used instead as a pejorative term when people are describing pre-industrial life, because usually the intended meaning is that subsistence farmers rarely hit their mark and are perpetually starving.

I think it comes from a pretty triumphalist view of the last 300 years rather than any real history. So basically: I agree.