The rise of chiefdoms and states came gradually as bands and tribes grew population wise and technologically. With the intensification of agriculture and the production of a surplus, inequality began to grow and become more and more apparent within the structure of society. Thus, social stratification came about and created different levels of importance amongst members of society. The most important factors, however, that contributed to the rise of chiefdoms and states are what major modes of subsistence were used (i.e. agriculture vs. foraging), what the predominant mode of distribution was, the population size of the society, the division of labor and the level of social stratification present in the society.
Depending on whether a society
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These two types of society had a much greater population size, therefore they had to sustain a much larger amount of people and make sure all of those people had work, food, and shelter. While it isn’t possible to ensure that every single one person’s needs are met with such a high density of people, a surplus is created to at least produce the illusion of having enough food and supplies for everyone. However, the truth is that most people in a state-level society were very poor, and therefore could not afford as much food as the higher class people in that society. This is the basis for social stratification-- a surplus for some while others go hungry. The ability to practice a particular craft or trade is also another basis for social stratification. If a …show more content…
This can be related to population increase as well because with agriculture a society can support and sustain a much larger, higher density of peoples. With intensive agriculture, a market for the surplus can be established as well. This relates to the predominant mode of distribution of the crops and supplies readily available in the community. This also, again, contributes to the social stratification of the different classes in a society because some may not be able to afford the products being sold at a market compared to other members of society. This is a more “unfair” method of distribution when compared to the band and tribal methods of reciprocity or redistribution-- it was a much more equal way of distribution than the market-based system of the chiefdoms and states. However, this was inevitable because the reciprocity and redistribution methods could only work if a lower density population was the one being
This means that men and women were entitled to a particular job and they were obliged to do their work. Agricultural societies assigned work in divergent ways and this helped them because there was increase in productivity.
The European social structure was heavily influenced by land ownership, with a land-wealthy elite at its center. Europeans viewed land as a resource to be exploited for human benefit. Property was the basis of independence, material wealth, and political status. Native Americans deemed the exact opposite of individual land ownership. Tribes recognized boundaries, like the Europeans, but believed that land was communal. Communal land ownership helped limit social stratification in Native American communities, much unlike the social hierarchy established by the Europeans. Europeans were accustomed to a greater scale of inequality. Native Americans stressed the group rather than the individual. They did not base life on material wealth as the Europeans did. However, some exceptions to this cultural system occurred in the more modern empires of the Aztec and Inca and, in North America, among tr...
Over time, throughout western civilization their greater prosperity and stable reliable food supply meant that people could have more children, and support larger families. Populations started to grow. In the fullness of time, the increased prosperity led to the rise of a hereditary chief or noble class as well. In my view it was like a domino effect one major event lead to another event each one more prosperous for these people.
In spite of Third World countries’ similar pre-industrial history and early policies aimed at industrializing, Third World countries have not had the same growth as most European countries. Bates analyzes the process of development and concludes that this time period as an important variable in a countries’ development. The provision of violence can be seen as a key aspect of state emergence and development in the 14th and 15th century in Europe. During this time, as societies grew, families eventually emerged as monarchs. Europe began to expand and the importance of rural areas was recognized. In cities people were not able to produce food but still needed to consume it, thus relied on farmers in rural areas.
The growth in land also contributed to overproduction, which was another factor contributing to the farmer's hardships. The expansion of farmland combined with the mechanical advances in agricultural technology greatly increased production in the west.
The roles of men and women were very distinct throughout a tribe. The role of men was to hunt, to defend their lands and families, to debate in public forums, and to lead the community's religious life. The role of women was to gather and prepare food, provide clothing and shelter, bear and raise children, and maintain the home. Depending on the amount of food that women produced, their status in their society was g...
Agriculture plays an enormous part in having a functioning society. The farming fields in the
Social stratification is defined as “a system of structured inequality in which people receive different amounts of society’s valued resources.” (Marger, 2015, p. 29) To elaborate, the “unequal distribution of resources creates a system of stratification. A rank order, or hierarchy, emerges in which people are grouped on the basis of how much of society’s rewards they receive. Those at the top receive the most of what there is to get, and those at the bottom the least.” (Marger, 2015, p. 27) “In simple terms, those at the top get more of what is valued because they are more powerful; they possess greater power resources in the form of wealth,
First, the chapters cover stratification. According to study.com “Social stratification refers to a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy. In the United States, it is perfectly clear that some groups have greater status, power, and wealth than other groups.” According to the textbook “Stratification is unequal distribution of valued
A History of World Societies, Volume 1: To 1600 [VitalSouce bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781457665363/id/L5-2-1
Determined by economic interests in the possession of goods and opportunities of income. In the mode of distribution the lower class are property less and can only offer labor and their products just to maintain. It favors the owners of workshops and warehouses on the other hand giving them a monopoly to acquire those same goods. Their power in terms of price struggle increases and gives them chances to share directly or indirectly in returns on capital. Semanu states “The real divisions are between the powerful and the powerless, with gradations in between the powerful and the powerless, with gradations in between (Semanu: p
Cipolla calls it the first great economic revolution (Cipolla 18). The development of agriculture leads to the development of communities, city-states, civilizations, and other settlements. The social structure that formed around agriculture brought about the possibility of specialization within a society, since not everyone had to hunt and gather all the time. Instead of living in an ecologically sustainable manner like the hunter/gatherers, people started living in an economic manner (Southwick 128). Specialization enabled the development of social institutions such as religion and government, and agriculture necessitated the development of irrigation.
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.
Different states go through different types of political and economical systems through a life time. In this case, most of the agricultural society was largely supported by the feudal system social hierarchy. Karl Marx defined feudalism as the power of the ruling class based on the control of “arable land”, this in turn affected class society based on the exploitation of the peasants who farm these lands (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). In the feudal system, most of the rights and privileges were given to the upper classes. In this hierarchical structure, the kings occupied the highest position, followed by barons, bishops, knights and peasants (History-world.org, 2014).Feudalism is considered to be the “medieval” form of government (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). Before capitalism came around as an economic model most states were a feudalistic country. These systems had an affect on society due to the fact it impacts citizens by “controlling” how they live and interact. The peasants were required to work for the nobles in return for land. This hierarchy was fuelled by the religious assumptions of the time that stated kings, dukes and other nobles served by the will of God over everyone else lower down the social order (Beitscher and Hunt, 2014). As industrialism provided a much more technical understanding of the world, it challenged these religious assumptions for the social