Like occupy wall street, the book destructs because of some really foolish theoretical confusion and nonsense. The authors make all sorts of claims, but ultimately everything they discuss in thi 700 plus page book is gear towards one half baked message. I say that this message is half baked because what does it even mean to choose a social structure when different people have different ideas and conflicting interests? Do women in traditional patriarchal societies choose to be second class humans ? Why do some people get their way and other people don't? None of these questions or concepts ever arise in this book. And like occupi or the 13 81 revolt, this gaping theoretical blind spot will set up readers for pro political failure and wasted
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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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