reverse dominance hierarchies
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Reverse dominance hierarchies; Egalitarian Societies StratificationTRANSCRIPT
- 1. How Inequality Evolved: Overcoming Reverse Dominance Hierarchies
- 2. The Myth of Forager Egalitarianism
- Myth: Forager societies lack hierarchy
- Reality: A few instances of inequality
- Gender Inequality: highly variable
- Private property: Pi on trees among Paiute
- Foragers: latent individual inequality
- Prevention: Watchful control by band and tribe
- 3. By Way of Introduction: Case Study
- Eating Christmas in the Kalahari by Richard Lee
- Lee conducted an ethnographic study of the Dobe !Kung during year
- He gave the band a fattened ox to thank them
- Reaction: Dobe ridiculed this gift
- Lesson: the !Kung typically ridicule all unusually valuable game
- 4. !Kung San Hunter
- 5. Why This Bizarre Behavior?
- Tomazos answer: Arrogance.
- When a young man kills much meat,
- he thinks himself as a chief or big man
- and the rest of us as his servants.
- We cannot accept this.
- Someday his pride will make him kill somebody.
- So we always speak of his meat as worthless.
- That way, we cool his heart and make him gentle.
- 6. Lessons from This Tale
- Even bandsmen know about inequality
- They fear domination by one man
- Unusual gifts always involve some ulterior motive
- So they denigrate this gifts
- The reaction conforms to a model of reverse dominance hierarchy
- 7. Reverse Dominance Hierarchy: A Definition
- Primary Source: Boehms Hierarchy in the Forest
- Definition: a collective reaction to
- anyones attempt to dominate his fellows
- Summary: All men seek to rule
- but if they cannot rule
- they seek to be equal.
- Harold Schneider, Economic Anthropologist
- 8. Reverse Dominance Hierarchy: Toward a Model
- Primary Source: Knauft: Sociality versus Self-Interest in Human Evolution Behavior and Brain Sciences.
- Knauft postulates a U-Shaped Curve:
- Nonhuman Primates: Moderate to Extreme Dominance
- Bands and Tribes: Strong Egalitarianism
- Chiefdoms and States: Ranking to Social Stratification
- 9. Reverse Dominance Hierarchy: Primate Ethological Evidence
- Rationale: Pongid-Hominid Divergence 6 m.y.a.
- Dominance Evident in Hominoids
- Chimpanzees: Coalition Politics
- Bonobos: Female Hierarchies Passed to Sons
- Male Linear Dominance is tempered by :
- Behavioral Ambivalence (waa vocalization)
- Coalitions of Subordinate Individuals
- 10. Establishing Dominance Hierarchies: Threat Behavior
- 11. Reverse Dominant Hierarchy: Band/Tribal Egalitarianism
- Most Models: Effortless Egalitarianism
- Reverse Dominance: You Have to Work at It
- Upstart Individuals Try to Dominate the Band/Tribe
- Coalitions Suppress Every Such Attempt
- Ridicule (!Kung Insulting the Meat)
- Song Duels (Inuit/Eskimo)
- Extreme Case: Homicide by Group-Selected Executioner
- 12. Ending Reverse Dominance Hierarchy: Food Surplus
- Bases of Food Surplus
- Complex Foraging: Northwest Coast Indians
- Advanced Pastoralists: Mongol Nomads
- Neolithic Revolution
- Intensive Cultivation
- Nonfarm Specialization in
- Crafts and Manufactures
- Administration and Enforcement
- Rise of an Elite
- 13. Ending Dominance Hierarchies: War
- As resources dwindle
- And populations increases
- Warfare expands in scope
- And establish hierarchical societies
- And their states
- 14. Ending Reverse Dominance Hierarchy: Population Density
- Populations increase
- Beyond scope of kin-based control
- New control mechanism come into place
- Extra-Familial groups take control
- Anti-hierarchical mechanisms lose effectiveness
- Circumscription ensures control.
- 15. Emergence of Stratification
- Manipulative Individuals/Families
- Form alliances (chimpanzee-like)
- Play one faction against another
- Form dynasties (bonobo-like)
- Control over Life-Sustaining Resources
- Water systems in semi-arid regions
- Agricultural lands
- Mechanisms of Taxation
- Labor
- Tribute
- 16. Contemporary Reverse Dominance Hierarchies
- Contemporary Examples
- Labor Unions: Danger of a Labor Aristocracy?
- Socialism: But who controls the bosses?
- Recuperaci n Movement in Argentina: But what will prevent corruption?
- 17. Industrial Reverse Dominance Hierarchies: Requirements
- Large-Scale Control Mechanisms
- Anti-Corruption Mechanisms
- Institutions Independent of Personalistic Qualities (Cult of Personality)
- Policies for the Greatest Happiness For All
- Assurance of Human and Civil Rights for all.
- 18. Equality to Inequality: Montenegro
- Montenegrins maintained tribal structure
- Uniting only to repel Ottoman forays
- Structure assured equality
- A marriage alliance sealed dominance by one tribe over the others
- 19. From Forager to Domesticator: The Archaeological Record
- Sufficient Condition: Food Surplus
- Complex Foraging Enabled Settled Communities
- Plant and Animal Domestication Forced by Population Excess of Carrying Capacity
- Tribal Society Still Egalitarian
- Based on Reverse Dominance
- Example: Big Man Model of New Guinea
- 20. Emergence of Complexity
- Projects emerged requiring extra-familial cooperation, such as a state
- Example: Dams, canals, other waterworks
- Example: Defensive walls when at war
- Example: Exploitation of mines or quarries
- Other projects might justify maintenance of new formation
- 21. Establishment of Power over Resources
- Control over Life-Sustaining Resources
- Example: Water works in arid regions
- Example: Granaries
- Example: Trade in essential goods
- Emergence of Hereditary Chiefs/Chiefdoms
- Formation of chief and subchief hierarchy
- Expansion of territory
- 22. Institutionalized Social Stratification
- Control of Food Surpluses and Food Sources
- Large, Dense Populations
- Formal Government
- Monopoly over Legal Force
- Bureaucracy
- Codified Law
- Division of Labor and Trade
- Record Keeping
- Monumental Architecture
- 23. Zinacantan: From Community to Local Stratification
- A Closed Corporate Community
- Cargo System
- Communal Resource and Surplus Control
- Other Attributes of Community Solidarity
- An Entrepreneurial Revolution
- Decline of the Cargo System
- Global Influences on Community
- Fragmentation into hamlets
- 24. Can Egalitarian Society Coexist with Complexity?
- Catalh yk: A large egalitarian town?
- The Inca: First socialist model?
- Contemporary South America: glimmerings of equal complex societies?