State level societies are a type of “class society [that] are often rigidly stratified into social levels, [where] the ruling class controls the populace not by consensus but by coercion and force” (Feder, 344 - 45). This society type is a form of government, structured with rules and regulations, including punishments for disobedience. There are many causes for a society to gradually transition into becoming a state level or more stratified society. Those of which will be briefly discussed throughout this short essay.
Two major causes that often intertwine that are imperative for a society to become a state leveled society are agriculture and specialization. As a societies population density increased, and specializations among the populace started to become more evident, there was great need for an increase in agricultural production. With the creation of monumental works, came the necessity of specializations among the population. However, with specializations abundant, and populations growing and encouraged to continue to grow to support the demands of a new state society, the lack of food could have been devastating to a society built on the foundations of stratification, specializations, and monumental works of mass importance. In a civilization based on a state society, agriculture would have been heavily relied upon. There was a great need for food production, and in a state society there were always a select few to be involved in the sole production of food. This allowed for state level civilizations that rely on mass agricultural production “in which the few [were] able to feed the many… [and in which] their production of a food surplus that [is] distributed [among the populace allows] for other members of so...
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...hy a complex society could potentially collapse. And aside from the two mentioned possibilities in the paragraphs above, Joseph Tainter briefly mentions others such as inefficient response to circumstances, other complex societies, intruders, mismanagement, and economic explanations. Whatever the case may be the cause may be different within each complex societal collapse, or could even be due to multiple causes as well. In all, the possibilities seem endless, and archaeologists will likely continue to research and uncover information pertaining to the collapse of complex societies that societies around today should understand and learn from so that in the future they can continue to stand.
Work Cited
Feder, Kenneth L. "An Explosion of Complexity." The Past In Perspective: An Introduction To Human Prehistory. 6th ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. 340-83. Print.
Scarre, Christopher. The Human Past: World Prehistory & the Development of Human Societies. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2013.
A complex society is more civilized with different social levels of politics, such as slaves
Chiefdoms which contain different lineages and have many jobs that were often filled by captured slaves. According to Diamond, religion also plays a part in this as it evolves to be more of a support to the government as a society becomes more complex. Chiefdoms had a redistributive economy in which the chief received all the goods and then spread it back out among all the people. It become institutionalized and more formalized and they are used to bolster the power of the secular government in society. For example, in chapter 14, Diamond argues that complex societies are ruled by "kleptocracies" that take resources from the people and must keep them happy and unknowing as they rob them (p.276). Kleptocracy is when the leader keeps much more tribute than he gives. One very interesting example is the need for government as societies grow. As there are more people together, there can be more disputes arising because they are strangers placed together. Since they do not really know or care for each other as much fights are less likely to be stopped. Hence a large society that leaves conflict resolution to its members is guaranteed to fail (p.286). That is why complex societies needed to form a government. This is related to the theme because it touches on the issues of government and creation of
In this, we find the first commentary, which in fact mirrors history. Here we see that a society, as occurred with the Roman Empire, can grow only up to a certain point, after which it begins declining and decaying, due in part to the gross levels of comfort that its populace become used to. This reliance upon comfort leads to an eventual loss of civic virtue among the people of the society. Once virtue is lost, the moral framework which holds a society together begins to fail, and after a time, crumbles, leading to a collapse of the society itself.
Bowler, Peter J. Evolution: The History of an Idea. London: University of California Press, 1989.
The example of societal collapse in which I will be making reference to throughout this essay is the Maya civilization. The Maya civilization is, “probably the best known of all early American civilizations.” (Fagan, 1995) It was at its strongest point between AD 300 AND 900. Around AD 900 was the time of its collapse. This civilization was developed in a densely, tropical forest on either highlands or lowlands. Today to visit a Mayan site, people would go to the modern Mexican state, capital city of Merida. This site was once home to the “New World's most advanced Native American civilization before European arrival.” (Diamond, 2009) Over the years there has been many predictions on what had caused the Maya civilization to collapse. At the moment the most recent cause that geographers and scientists have come up with is that climate change may have had a major impact on this collapse. It is said that the rainfall received during the creation of the civilization was a key factor in the continuity of life for the Mayans. This and the addition of societal factors such as religious beliefs, ethnicity and education all had an affect on their way of life, an effect on their societal well-being. Art and architecture that was formed by the Mayans is the foundation for the archaeologists work today. They look at these features and the ruins of the buildings created to depict the kind of lifestyle they lived. Looking at the art and architecture of a specific civilization or community of the past is just one way that can help to inform future adaptations. Another way in which the Europeans received knowledge on the collapse was that they sent out geographers and researchers not long after the collapse to gather as much data and information ...
Many people speak of a word called “perfect” but don't know the real meaning of the word.”Perfect” is used to describe something that has no flaws whatsoever. Nothing is perfect.Even the world is not perfect.We all have flaws that can bring us down.Many people think that the word perfect means something. But it doesnt. I think perfect is a word with no meaning because nothing is “perfect”. You may think you got close but you really didn't everything has flaws weather there minor or big there still there and they're not going away.Just like in societies.If one thing goes wrong then everything turns into a nightmare. and one of the main reasons that societies all over the world fall is because of corrupt leaders, at war too much, and religious freedom.These are the biggest reason why societies fall. Many leaders have made laws to keep them in power and benefit from them and the laws that are created aren't for the peoples sake.they make laws and also where made so that only the leader would benefit like creating higher taxes brings more money to the leader or controlling the army or military would allow a person to take controll over an area.There is a lot of reasons why society's fall but i can't name them all.There's mainly 4 categories why a society can fall. Politically,socially,economically,and geographically.If even one of these fell then the whole system would crash.We need to take action and learn from the past societies that have fallen and take them as an example of why great society's fall.
A dystopia the darkest form of government, a utopia gone wrong, a craving for power, struggling for fewer rules. The dystopia is factual the worst possible form of a government. Its the struggle to be so perfect that it fails. There are typically two types of dystopias first a monarchy. A monarchy is a group of people controlled by a king or queen, and they make every last decision. What they want they get. A monarchy is typically born like this example from lord of the flies. “He became absorbed beyond mere happiness as he felt himself exercising control over living things. He talked to them, urging them, ordering them"(Golding 58). This shows that a monarchy starts by one just taking over from the start rather than being a "team player." A communistic government is the opposite of a monarchy in life style but ironically is not in their governing body. They rule by having everyone as an equal, so no one is poor and few people are rich. They are seemingly alike in so many ways. Amongst the political spectrum there are two dystopian governments more alike than as difference, communism and monarchy.
Winks, Robin W, et al. (1992). A History of Civilization: Volume I: Prehistory to 1715.
This can be observed when he argues how influential a systems collapse can be on an interconnected, globalized society such as the LBA civilization. For example, the effects of a LBA systems collapse can be seen in Cline’s book when he mentions how a systems collapse produced a multiplier effect which crippled trade routes between different societies and then created a domino effect which caused the collapse of one society as a result of interconnection with others societies (Cline, 165). The impact of a systems collapse can also be seen when Cline mentions how globalization and interconnection could cause instability in LBA society. For example, he says, “If the Late Bronze Age civilization were truly globalized and dependent upon each other for good and services, even just to a certain extent, then change to any one of the relevant kingdoms…would affect and destabilize them all” (Cline, 168). Analysis of this evidence shows that a systems collapse was a major reason for the collapse of LBA society because as a result of many factors working together such as earthquakes, war and drought, a systems collapse occurred which brought down all the interconnected civilizations of the
Only recently, the community of the literary world was surprised by the emergence of a 23-years-old female author of a dystopian novel – Tahereh Mafi and her first book, Shatter Me. In it the young woman notes, “The new citizens of our world will be reduced to nothing but numbers, easily interchangeable, easily removable, easily destroyed for disobedience. We have lost our humanity.” What made her so famous in such a short period of time is that her observations resemble the predictions of two noted authors of dystopian novels – George Orwell with his book 1984 and Aldous Huxley with his work Brave New World. Both of them found a place not only in the literary world but also in the spheres of politics and psychology since their theories about the future of the human kind were largely based on realistic threats. Their view, no matter how exaggerated and far-fetched, has observable possible implications in the present. Martin Seligman, the President of the American Psychological Association, proposes partial remedy to some of these implications through his “positive psychology” theory. His approach could prove useful in dealing with threats like the numbing of the human mind, the emotional detachment from sexual relations, the death of family values, and the detachment from the past, all to a large extent due to the technological developments of the new world.
2005. The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Societies. The World Transformed: From Foragers and Farmers to States and Empires.
Burenholt, Dr. Govan. The First Humans - Human Origins and History to 10,000 B.C. New York; Harper Collins Publishes. 1993
The factors that lead to the “collapse” of civilizations are almost directly related to those that created it. Archaeologists characterize collapse by a number of elements, some of which we have evidence for, others we do not. Most archaeologists are unsure of exactly what caused the decline of most civilizations in the ancient world, yet there are many clues to some of the events that could have contributed. The collapse of the ancient Roman Empire, the Mesoamerican Mayan, and the Egyptian cultures will be discussed in the following paragraphs, with a focus on the uniqueness of each.
A civilization is compiled of eight features. 1. Cities 2. Well-Organized Central Government 3. Complex Religions 4. Job Specialization 5. Social Classes 6. Arts and Architecture 7. Public Works 8. Writings