Human History - Is There Any Relation Between Equal Access to Resources and Equal Decision Making Power?
The ultimate question of human history is not our equal access to material resources, but our equal capacity to contribute to decisions about how to live together. Greber and wengro explicitly decouple the idea of wealth and equality from power in this book. They ask: Is there any relationship between equal access to resources and equality of decision making power?
Transcript
chevron_right
Play full episode
chevron_right
Transcript
Episode notes
In this episode we cover chapter 1 of David Graeber & David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything, entitled Farewell to Humanity’s Childhood; or Why This isn’t a Book About the Origins of Inequality.
In doing so, we look at the following:
How the book’s underlying thesis: that human social structure is ultimately a matter of choice and experimentation, is fundamentally incoherent, and how this idea sets us up for future dramatic political failures, similar to those of Occupy Wall Street or the Great Peasant’s Revolt of 1381.
What the standard narrative of human origins actually is, vs. the caricature elevator pitch version that Graeber & Wengrow claim to be debunking.
Why most anthropologists believe that human beings began as egalitarian hunter-gatherers despite knowing about all of the evidence that Graeber & Wengrow present in order to argue the otherwise.
How and why Graeber & Wengrow flush down the toilet the analytical tools that they need in order to answer their own questions about how we got stuck in dominance hierarchies.
How social structure actually works.
How Graeber & Wengrow’s arguments are great material for right wing talking points.
Why there is room for deliberate social change in a world where social structure is largely a matter of conditions and relative bargaining power, rather than a matter of “choice”.
Patreon: Help me make this podcast/channel all it can be, and help it be less torture and destructive for my income for me to produce these! They takes 2-6 weeks full time to put together during which time I’m not earning any money, so I need your help to continue!
Audio Podcast : click the link on your device to open the audio podcast in your mobile app, or else search for “worbs” on your podcast app. Full transcripts available on the episode pages.
