| ORIGINS OF CIVILIZATION AND THE STATE FOUR STAGES -- Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, States Bands � informal leaders; small groups (few dozen people); nomadic; subsistence; egalitarian. Tribes � informal leaders; pastoral/horticultural; autonomous linked villages; mostly egalitarian. Chiefdoms � more permanent, inherited leader; controlled and linked villages/towns; hierarchical. (note: no organized legal apparatus, little resistance to challenge) States � formal leaders (�sociopolitical organization with monopoly of means of violence�). Larger, dense 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 institutions (polity and bureaucracy; religion; family; education, etc.). 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 (occupations, buildings, etc.), advanced knowledge/education/communication. 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 WHY DID THE CHANGES OCCUR (FIVE BASIC THEORIES)? (Assumes that the state is the driving force behind the fundamental social changes) 1. Trade � both internal (exploitation) and external (competition) aspects of trade require strong stable state. 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. 3. Population pressure � productivity increases population, increased population requires more productivity. 4. Irrigation agriculture (vs. rainfall) � irrigation agriculture requires large scale administration. 5. Circumscription (geographical obstacles to expansion) � population pressure leads to conquest. Some combination of several or all of these?? CHANGES IN SOCIAL LIFE FROM PRE-NEOLITHIC THROUGH STATES Economy � production for consumption to production for exploitation and trade (class exploitation). Knowledge � religion to increasing secularization (religion to theology to philosophy to nascent science). 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). Demography � the early demographic transition (high BR/high DR -> high BR/low DR). Geography � transition from natural environment to more artificial environment (both urban and rural). Division of Labor � growing complexity (urban and agricultural). |