The standard narrative is mostly deployed to convince us that while the system we live under might be unjust, the most we can realistically aim for is a bit of modest tinkering. They quote jar diamond to the effect that you can't have a stateless society or direct democracy once you go above ten thousand people. The authors don't mention all the expert anthropologists who think the exact opposite - our galetarian origins prove that we can and should organize in ways that maximize freedom and equality. And they don't mention that the people who argue this the most ardently tend to be the people who specialize in egaletarian hunter gather bands and who know them the best. By only pointing to
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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”.
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