Unmaking egalitarianism: Comparing sources of political change in an Amazonian society

IF 3 1区 心理学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Christopher R. von Rueden
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引用次数: 6

Abstract

Politically egalitarian societies were likely more common in pre-history than in recent millenia. Why did societies become more hierarchical? Answers to this question remain debated, based on evidence largely drawn from archaeological case studies or comparison of societies from the ethnographic record. I suggest that modern small-scale societies transitioning to market economies can provide complementary tests of the sources of political inequality. I first describe moderate variation in men's influence during community meetings (i.e. political inequality) across four relatively egalitarian Tsimane villages in the Bolivian Amazon, as well as within one of these villages over twelve years. I then assess the roles of (1) sharing networks, (2) patron-client relationships, and (3) leadership opportunity in explaining that variation. Greater political inequality does not associate with reduced sharing but does associate with concentration of conflict mediation in the most influential men (per leadership opportunity) and more equivocally with intra-village paid labor (per patron-client models). In general, I argue that we need more micro-scale studies of societies in transition to understand why individuals come to tolerate greater political inequality.

破坏平均主义:比较亚马逊社会政治变革的来源
政治上平等的社会在史前时期可能比近代更为常见。为什么社会变得更加等级森严?对这一问题的答案仍存在争议,主要依据的证据来自考古案例研究或人种学记录中的社会比较。我认为,向市场经济过渡的现代小规模社会可以对政治不平等的根源进行补充性检验。我首先描述了玻利维亚亚马逊地区四个相对平等的 Tsimane 村庄中男性在社区会议中影响力的适度变化(即政治不平等),以及其中一个村庄十二年来的情况。然后,我评估了(1)分享网络、(2)赞助人-客户关系和(3)领导机会在解释这种差异中的作用。更大的政治不平等与分享的减少无关,但与冲突调解集中于最有影响力的男性有关(根据领导机会),也与村内有偿劳动有关(根据赞助人-客户模式)。总之,我认为我们需要对转型社会进行更多的微观研究,以了解为什么个人会容忍更大的政治不平等。
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来源期刊
Evolution and Human Behavior
Evolution and Human Behavior 生物-行为科学
CiteScore
8.30
自引率
9.80%
发文量
62
审稿时长
82 days
期刊介绍: Evolution and Human Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal, presenting research reports and theory in which evolutionary perspectives are brought to bear on the study of human behavior. It is primarily a scientific journal, but submissions from scholars in the humanities are also encouraged. Papers reporting on theoretical and empirical work on other species will be welcome if their relevance to the human animal is apparent.
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