Term Paper on "Anthropology Origin of Inequality"

Term Paper 6 pages (1886 words) Sources: 5 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Anthropology

Origins of Inequality

Human beings are not created equal - or so might run an observation about most human societies. Since earliest times, cultures all over the world have categorized men and women according to social status. Different people are considered more important or higher ranking, than other people. The way in which these "social classes" are arranged varies according to the people involved. Among people such as hunters and gatherers, there really exists any actual social class, but one individual - or even type of individual - may be more esteemed than another. In some societies, class is determined by birth, and is rigid and virtually unchangeable. In others, social status is relatively fluid, determined by the personal achievements of a lifetime, though even in these kinds of societies, status is more fixed than many would like to believe. More than two centuries ago, the great French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau attempted to explain these pervasive phenomena in his Origin of Inequality. In the years since, whole disciplines have endeavored to explain much the same thing. Today, most anthropologists would probably trace the origins of inequality back to earliest times, and to the most technologically primitive of human societies. Similar societies still exist, and quite likely, they furnish a model of how our ancestors may have lived long ago; how they thought, and what they considered important. It was these patterns of behavior that caused prehistoric women and men to value certain people more than others, as their activities were more crucial to the community's survival. Eventually, these essential activities were seen as prestigious in and of themselves, and so status began to become more "automatic."

Extant hunter/gatherer societies are typically marked by a division of labor that is based upon the sex of the individual. Men perform certain tasks, while women perform others. In most cases it is the men who hunt or fish, and the woman who gather plant foods. There is no real difference in the kind of work performed by any given man, or any given woman. Implements are made as needed and housing is essentially identical. There are few possessions beyond what is absolutely needed in connected with the tasks of daily life. On the surface, such a lifestyle appears wholly egalitarian. Yet, even here one can see the emergence of "Alpha males" - men who appear to dominate others in an otherwise "equal" environment. Though there are no officially designated leaders, and no apparent hereditary classes, anthropologists have observed that,

The absence of a transitive rank-order headed by a dominant individual, whether male or female, does not preclude neglect or ill-treatment of the weak or vulnerable. A band member consistently disadvantaged in access to resources, or enjoying significantly lower esteem, or singled out for physical punishment in a decision 'reached casually round the camp fire' is being no less unequally treated than a member of a subordinate class, or stigmatized status group, or dissident faction in a society with formal economic, ideological, and political institutions and roles.

In other words, hunters and gatherers display a kind of embryonic social ranking system. Social status is determined by an individual's proficiency at the tasks esteemed by the community or, ore specifically, by the individual's contribution to the community. The successful hunter becomes a leader among his people because he either personally provides the most game, or helps others to procure more game. Those who are unsuccessful hunters, or who are lazy, and contribute little, are stigmatized and lose status.

Food, the primary good valued by hunter/gatherers is, under primitive conditions, a perishable commodity and cannot be stored to any real extent. Thus, one cannot accumulate huge reserves of it. In more technologically advanced societies, however, it is possible to accumulate wealth, even if that wealth is not measured in the same fashion as in modern post-industrial societies. Among pastoralists, for example, cattle, goats, camels, or some other animal, constitute a genuine source of wealth, because it possible to possess large herds or flocks at any given time. Normally, pastoral peoples must move camp fairly frequently in order to find pasture for their animals. As a result of these circumstances, pastoral groups that are remote from more technologically-advanced societies generally also own few movable goods. Their clothing, tools, housing, and so fort, is usually simple. Nevertheless, herds or flocks can be a source of great power and influence to those who possess them. Among the Maasai of East Africa, possession of cattle gives an individual the power to control other individuals within the community:

herd that was too small could not feed those dependent on it, while one that was too large could not be managed with available family labour. Thus, as herds grew, one had to be able either to acquire additional labour outside the family to take care of them or to place excess cattle in the care of others, while, if they shrunk, either excess consumers had to be able to find work with others or one had to borrow cows from others to feed them.

Controlling the labor of others is equivalent to dominating others, or to maintaining a superior status. The Maasai, and other pastoralists, used their wealth in livestock to build up personal "empires" that enabled them to command others within the community. In possession of these large retinues, their voices would be more easily heard in the community's affairs. In addition, as wealth such as cattle could be passed down to one's children, it became possible, for the first time, to truly transfer wealth from one generation to another.

The transference of wealth - whatever that wealth might be - from one generation to another is one important step on the road to the development of a hereditary class system. If one is born already owning possessing large reserves of cattle or land, or some other valued commodity, one is already of higher status than one who lacks these commodities. In agrarian societies, land becomes important because it is needed for agriculture. As with livestock, one may also accumulate large amounts of land. But, since farming is a settle occupation, the other effects of daily life change dramatically. Houses become permanent and far more substantial. Tools and implements can be made more elaborately and accumulated in larger quantities because they do not have to be constantly transported from place to place. Eventually, certain individuals will accumulate such large surpluses of land, and the labor needed to work that land, that they will begin to use their wealth in still other ways. They will have others make prized objects for them, objects that they simply accumulate, give away, or display. They will construct larger and grander residences, and employ large numbers of people to wait on them, protect their lands and possessions, or simply to surround them and show off how wealthy and important they are. According to this Surplus Theory of Social Stratification, it is the sheer accumulation of surpluses that causes social status to accrue to individuals and families.

A wealthy individual commands people just the same as he commands resources. To an even greater extent than among pastoral peoples, the wealth of individuals and families in agrarian societies can be passed down from generation to generation.

As societies become still more complex, the amount of wealth that it is possible to accumulate becomes larger and larger, eventually reaching enormous proportions. Wealthy individuals exercise control or influence over huge numbers of their fellows. The gap between the community's wealthiest and poorest members eventually comes to resemble a huge gulf, with vast differences in power and prestige developing between these two extremes. By the time the people of Sumer, in modern Iraq, had created what is generally considered to be the world's first true civilization, extremes of wealth and poverty already existed. Modern day archeologists and anthropologists can deduce the relative status of individuals simply by looking at the physical remains they left behind; the size and content of their dwellings, and the locations of those dwellings within the Sumerian cities.

To an even greater extent than among simple farmers, the wealth accumulated by certain small groups of people in civilized societies permitted them to coalesce as distinct classes. They passed not merely their accumulation of resources, but also their right to control others, onto future generations.

Modern post-industrial societies represent only the latest in a long line of civilized societies. As with the ancient, wealth and status are easily concentrated in the hands of small groups and passed from generation to generation. Others find status by performing services and functions that are needed by high status groups, and also by the community as a whole. In fact, in the modern world, relations among individuals and groups within society are so complex, that it is often difficulty to determine one's precise status, or self-worth, within the larger scheme.

Talent commands wealth, in the sense o remuneration, or prestige, but one's talents may not necessarily "buy" one a position commensurate… READ MORE

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