Human beings have free will, but our actions are constrained by material realities.  Understanding how material and practical conditions shape human behaviour can make all the difference between success and catastrophic failure when it comes to the whole spectrum of political action, from private sector negotiation, to crafting legislation, to making a revolution.

In this episode we look at:

The relationship between economic activity and the high status of women in traditional Haudenosaunee / Iroquois society

How World War I helped women win the right to vote in Europe and North America 

How World War II catalyzed the Black civil rights movement in the United States.  

The success, failure, and accidental success of the English Peasant’s Revolt of 1381

The implications of the Anarchist Revolution in Spain in 1936-1939 for the future of industrial civilization.  

FULL TRANSCRIPT!

Music in this episode is by Tony Ezzy and Cheap Wig

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RELATED READINGS:

Ember & Ember 1971 – The Conditions Favoring Matrilocal Versus Patrilocal Residence, American Anthropologist, Vol. 73, N° 3 

Pasternak 1997 – Family and Household: Who Lives Where, Why Does It Vary, and Why Is It Important? in Ember & Ember (eds.) 1995 – Cross-Cultural Research for Social Science

Abigail Higgins 2019 – American Women Fought for Suffrage for 70 Years. It Took WWI to Finally Achieve It, history.com 

Sally Roesch Wagner 2015, How Indigenous Women Inspired The Feminist Movement, Bust Magazine

Cathleen D. Cahill / Sarah Deer 2020 – In 1920, Native Women Sought the Vote. Here’s What’s Next, New York Times

Annette McDermott 2018 – Did World War II Launch the Civil Rights Movement?, history.com

Paul Foot 1981 – “This bright day of Summer”: The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381; see also the lively original audio version of this speech

Sam Dolgoff 1973 – Anarchist Collectives

Thomas Kuhn 1962/2012 – The Structure of Scientific Revolutions