Human societies can choose between democratic and dominance hierarchies, highlighting power dynamics.
Dominance hierarchies thrive when individuals control essential resources and restrict alternatives for others.
Human societies exhibit a mix of dominance and egalitarian behavior, consciously resisting dominant-submissive tendencies.
Deep dives
Human Societies and Hierarchy
Human societies are predominantly organized in dominance hierarchies where power, wealth, and rights are unequal. The authors argue that while hierarchy seems pervasive today, it is not a necessary societal structure. They emphasize the human ability to choose social structures and advocate for a shift away from dominance hierarchies. A key distinction made is between democratic and dominance hierarchies, highlighting how power is wielded in each context.
Conditions for Dominance Hierarchy
Dominance hierarchy arises when individuals control essential resources and restrict alternatives for others. This system thrives when certain conditions favor those in power, such as having guns, economic advantages, or controlling vital resources. The discussion points out how changes in circumstances can impact the degree of dominance exerted by individuals, determining the level of hierarchy and the ability of individuals to escape it.
Egalitarian Origins and Social Structure
The podcast critiques interpretations of human origins, emphasizing a clash between egalitarian and hierarchical views. The debate over inherent human nature, such as cooperative tendencies or dominance behavior, is discussed. Insights from Christopher Boehm and Sarah Hrdy support a synthesis that humans exhibit inclinations towards both cooperation and competition, affected by varying environmental conditions. The narrative challenges the notion of a single original human society and explores diverse social structures based on historical evidence and environmental factors.
Human Societies and Dominance Behavior
Human societies exhibit a mix of dominance and egalitarian behavior. While there is an instinctual tendency toward submission and dominance, societies are distinctively human in the conscious decision to resist dominant-submissive behavior. This is exemplified in foraging bands using strategies like ridicule and shunning to counter bullying, showing actuarial intelligence in maintaining egalitarianism.
Evolution of Social Organization in Paleolithic Times
In the Paleolithic era, human societies were mostly organized into small egalitarian bands due to fluctuating environmental conditions. The advent of the Holocene period and stable climates enabled long-term settlement and agriculture, facilitating the rise of hierarchy. Contrary to the idea of a universally egalitarian past, archaeological evidence points to sporadic instances of inequality and specialized burials in prehistoric societies.
We cover the first part of chapter 3 of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s book The Dawn of Everything: ”Unfreezing the Ice Age”, and we investigate the authors’ claims that human inequality has no origins based on archeology from upper paleolithic europe.
In doing so we also look at the difference between dominance hierarchy and democratic hierarchy, and what the necessary criteria are in order to establish a a dominance hierarchy.
We also discover that Graeber & Wengrow actually have no arguments for why human inequality supposedly has no origins!
