| SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Social institutions are large scale socially organized responses to basic needs. Major social institutions include: The Economy -- the production and reproduction of social relations relating to material culture. Includes: the distribution of work, the production and distribution of goods for consumption, the production and distribution of wealth (means of production), and external aspects of these (trade, etc.). The Polity -- the production and reproduction of organized social decision-making. Includes: the coordination of social decisions and the internal and external relations of power. Knowledge -- the production and reproduction of knowledge, skills, beliefs, values, etc. Includes: socialization in general, religion and social rituals, communication media (writing, language, electronic media), formal education and knowledge-based communities (science, technical fields, etc.). The Family -- the production, reproduction, and socialization of children, kinship, domestic relations. Includes: kinship structure, courtship/marriage practices, child bearing and rearing, domestic economy, etc. [Note: could add to these institutions of social control, the military, and others] FOUR OTHER BASIC ASPECTS OF SOCIETY Demography -- population growth and density), age structure, gender structure, etc. Geography -- features of the natural environment, geographic size and mobility, etc. Division of labor -- key features are type and complexity. Stratification -- relations of equality and inequality (ranges from egalitarian to class/hierarchical). THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTIONS Humans were hunter-gatherers for at least the first 3 million years as a species. The Neolithic Revolutions (transitions from nomadic HGs to settled village/agricultural life) began in various parts of the world about ten thousand years ago in a process of parallel evolution (unconnected changes occurring in different places at about the same time). The transitions were basically complete within a few thousand years. What evidence do we have about the HGs and transition? Some archeological, most contemporary! The transition involved domestication of different plants and animals in different parts of the world. Five important characteristics of the transition: 1. Change to village life and its implications (social stability, surplus, ranking and dominance, etc.). 2. Groundwork was laid by HGs, so transition involved very gradual changes. 3. Parallel evolution points toward similar causes, most likely population and resource stresses. 4. Involved new applications of old knowledge rather than new knowledge. 5. Settled village life was resisted for many centuries by various HGs in different parts of the world. |