Social Change ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATION AND STATES FOUR STAGES -- Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, States
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Social Change
ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATION AND STATES
FOUR STAGES --
Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, States
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Bands –
informal leaders; small groups (few dozen people); nomadic; subsistence; egalitarian.
Tribes –
informal leaders; pastoral/horticultural; autonomous linked villages; mostly egalitarian.
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Chiefdoms –
more permanent, inherited leader; controlled and
linked villages/towns; hierarchical.
Note: no organized legal apparatus, little resistance
to challenge
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States – formal leaders (“sociopolitical organization with monopoly of means of violence”)
Larger, denser populations based on advanced agriculture and trade; complex economic
specialization (division of labor); social class structure based on domination and exploitation (urban vs. rural).
Specialized, integrated instis (polity/bureaucracy; religion; family; education, etc.).
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States and Civilizations –
Over time, organized states penetrate and reorganize culture/institutions of the society (and expand the society through conquest, etc.). State civilizations eventually entail urbanism and city life, capital accumulation (taxation, tribute, etc.) to support non-agricultural population, long distance trade, public sector (urban-based occupations, buildings, etc.), advanced knowledge/education/communication.
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THE PROCESS OF PARALLEL (& INDEPENDENT) EVOLUTION
Very similar States/Civilizations developed in different parts of the world starting about 5000 years ago.
(Mesopotamia, Egypt, other parts of Africa, China, Indus Valley, Europe, Mesoamerica, Peru)
There were also partial developments elsewhere:
N America, S America, Polynesia
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WHY DID THESE CHANGES OCCUR (FIVE BASIC THEORIES)?
(Assumes that the state is the driving force behind the fundamental social changes – the
state now organizes responses to
problems/pressures)
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1. Trade – both internal (exploitation) and external (competition) aspects of trade require strong stable state.
Why? Extracting surplus from peasants (by force)
Protecting merchants and seeking trade advantages
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2. Class conflict – class societies are unstable (exploitation & resistance) and the ruling class must continuously develop the state apparatus and expand their domains to maintain their wealth and power.
Elites compete over “shares” of the surplus
Exploited people resist exploitation (but disorganized)
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3. Population pressure – productivity increases population, increased population requires more productivity.
Growth presses more growth!
Even early urban areas were “growth machines”
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4. Irrigation agriculture (vs. rainfall) – irrigation agriculture requires large scale administration.
Large scale admin requires broader irrigation to increase productivity!
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5. Circumscription (geographical obstacles to expansion) – population pressure leads to conquest.
Conquest, slavery, empire building
Also growing need for resources (raw materials)
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Some combination of several or all of these?
TradeConflictPopulation pressureIrrigation agricultureGeographical circumscription
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CHANGES IN SOCIAL LIFE FROM PRE-NEOLITHIC THROUGH STATES
Changes in Institutions and other factors
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Economy –
Shift from production for consumption to production for exploitation and trade
(and increasing class exploitation).
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Knowledge –
religion to increasing secularization
(religion to theology to philosophy to nascent science).
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Family – the decline of kinship and then family; the development of citizenship.
Social Control – from community control (homogeneity & surveillance) to early formal social control (law)
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Demography –
the early demographic transition
(high BR/high DR -> high BR/lower DR)
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Geography –
transition from natural environment to more artificial environment (both urban and rural).
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Division of Labor –
growing complexity (urban and agricultural)
Dialectic – Surplus and complexity
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Summary
Pre-industrial Pre-capitalist
From HGs to Pastoral/Horticulturalto larger states to empires
Eventually Agrarian states (NEXT)
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