property relations and productive strategies in pastoral societies

Barth has argued from his analysis of Basseri data that pastoral societies face demographic problems which require making animals private property, a problem non-pastoral societies do not face. In fact, Barth's theory fits some gardening societies better than the Basseri. The reason is that Basseri private property seems to be a response to market opportunities. In non-market pastoral societies, animals are commonly personal property, not private property.