Social inequality is a topic that has been debated for 1000’s of years, and remains a very fluid topic today. It’s fair to assume that there isn’t a defining reason as to why certain societies have progressed faster than others, as we can inly give theory as to why we see advanced, industrialized states; while other societies have failed to establish the technology often assumed with modernized nations. Jared Diamond, professor of geography and physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles has dedicated much of his adult life researching why social inequality exists. What Diamond has theorized, through his extensive study of hunter and gatherer societies of tribal Papua New Guinea, and his subsequent study of ancient Eurasian societies, was the environment which bound these cultures was the sole reason as to whether or not they advanced to a modern state. Opponents to Diamond’s theory have proposed differing theories, ranging from the societies religious beliefs, to whether or not the society practiced an egalitarian way of living, all of which can be debated as to justifiable causes of social inequality. Others believe Diamond’s theory is to obscure, citing that the ability of a society to adapt and make use of its natural environment is an over simplistic explanation to an issue for which there isn’t a definitive answer. So the question remains, why have certain societies progressed faster than others? Agreeing with Diamond’s theory, I believe the answer lies solely in the ability of a given society to farm, and of equal importance the type of farming each culture’s environment provides them.
Nutritional resources are of great importance in Diamond’s theory as to why certain societies progressed more rapidly than oth...
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...ffort or innovation, the environment that surrounds your culture, and many other societies still experiencing social inequality, is not suitable for proper expansion.
References
Cooper, Zarine. “Archaeology and History: Early Settlements in the Andaman Islands.” Journal of Asian Studies 63.3 (2004): 820-822. JSTOR. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. .
Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. Tim Lambert James Gold. Pbs. youtube. Web. 22 Apr. 2012. .
Harris, Marvin, and Orna Johnson. Cultural Anthroplogy. 7th ed. 2000. Boston: Pearson, 2007. N. pag. Print.
Nanda, Serena, and Richard Warms. “Tribal Warfare.” Cultural Anthroplogy. 10th ed. 2010. N.p.: n.p., 2010. 245. books.com. Web. 2 May 2012.
Richerson. “Horticultural Societies.” booksonline. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 May 2012. .
The prologue of the book clearly lays out Diamond thesis. He explains that past societies have collapsed based on five factors: human induced environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and society’s response to environmental problems. He also explains how is wrote this book in a scientific manner using the “comparative method”, comparing natural situations differing with respect to the variable of interest. There is a slight flaw in this though. Showing these correlations between different societies,...
He mentions that Diamond’s argument was insufficient because he kept on arguing that the reason for the development of societies was due to their geographical location and their ease of domestication. And therefore, his statements lacked the important discussion about the role the culture played in the pace of progress and the development of societies. So let's look at Diamond’s weak points more carefully, as he said that development occurred because of plants and domestication but what is the idea behind that all these animals and plants were just there sitting around and waiting for the humans to come and make use of it? This sounds so ridiculous but that’s what Diamond’s is
The book Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond, starts off with Yali’s question about why some places are more developed and have more resources compared to others. The essence of this book is based on Diamond’s thesis, he claimed: "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples ' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves"(Diamond 25). Diamond tries to explain the cultural development of few societies at different places in the world. One of the question he described most vividly is about “Why did wealth and power become distributed as they now are, rather than in some other way? For instance, why weren 't Native Americans, Africans, and Aboriginal Australians
Robbins Burling, David F. Armstrong, Ben G. Blount, Catherine A. Callaghan, Mary Lecron Foster, Barbara J. King, Sue Taylor Parker, Osamu Sakura, William C. Stokoe, Ron Wallace, Joel Wallman, A. Whiten, Sherman Wilcox and Thomas Wynn. Current Anthropology, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Feb., 1993), pp. 25-53
Every society forms different cultures and social norms how people behave and constructs stereotypes and expectations of people based on how they were seen throughout history and cultural backgrounds. Once set, norms are unlikely to be changed over time. This social construction decides which group will have benefits and privileges and which won’t. One example of these social constructed norms is gender. Gender, regardless of how different cultures define it, is generally and mostly made up of masculinity, femininity.
There are many opportunities in America that can improve one’s wealth and power, thus leading to the mass amount of immigrants coming to American. Most immigrants that come to American usually are categorized as the lower class immigrants, but they take any opportunities to improve their economic status. In an article by Howard P. Chudacoff, it states “immigrants generally chose upward paths that led from manual labor into small proprietorships” (Chudacoff 1982: 104). This explains the reason why immigrants choose to come and stay in America. They start out small as laborers then over time they will work to own a small business. Even though immigrants gets to grow to move from the lower class to the middle class, the natives will be always
I believe that there is too much wealth and income inequality in the United States
Jared Diamond makes the argument that when humans decided 10,000 years ago to no longer be hunter-gatherers and made the decision to become sedentary and start domesticating their animals and crops, the result is that the human race has experienced a steady downfall. Diamond makes the point that “with agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism that curse our existence,” (Diamond). While the present system certainly is far from being perfected, Diamond’s various complaints and solutions certainly would not be of much use in the present time either.
Nanda, S and Warms, R.L. (2011). Cultural Anthropology, Tenth Edition. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. ISBN – 13:978-0-495-81083-4.
Schultz, Emily A. & Lavenda, Robert H. 2005, Cultural Anthropology, 6th edn, Oxford University Press, New York, Chapter 3: Fieldwork.
There is a high degree of social inequality within the United States. Of most modern industrial countries, the United Stated has some of the richest and some of the poorest people to be found. That fact is very disturbing, however, explains why much of the inequality exists in the US. In the following essay I will explain to you about the inequality in our country and why it occurs, based on the theoretical perspectives of a functionalist, conflict theorist, and social interationist.
Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The income gap in America has been increasing steadily since the late 1970’s, and has now reached historic highs not seen since the 1920’s (Desilver). UC Berkeley economics professor, Emmanuel Saez conducted extensive research on past and present income inequality statistics and published them in his report “Striking it Richer.” Saez claims that changes in technology, tax policies, labor unions, corporate benefits, and social norms have caused income inequality. He stands to advocate a change in American economic policies that will help close this inequality gap and considers institutional and tax reforms that should be developed to counter it. Although Saez’s provides legitimate causes of income inequality, I highly disagree with the thought of making changes to end income inequality. In any diverse economic environment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. I believe income inequality e...
Institutions are crucial for our society to be successful because it is a social and academic construction of a community in that institutions help us interact with each other and promote scientific research and findings, regardless of the cultures and values that each individual believes in; without institutions, there would be no order and stability in society. However, in the essay “Rent Seeking and the Making of an Unequal Society” by Joseph Stiglitz, Stiglitz disagrees by arguing that institutions actually prevent scientific research to evolve into scientific discoveries because monopolists and dominant forms such as Microsoft suppress innovation; however, this statement is unconscionable
There are some notable occasions in the modern human history when the world took a massive leap forward. The industrial revolution of the 18th century, the technological revolution of the 20th century and the commencing of the 21st century are among them. Where they have taken the world forward, they have also contributed to the rise of a certain amount of disparity amongst the people. The world of today is divided between developed and underdeveloped countries. Where the Middle East and the west are highly endowed with resources, others like the African countries do not have sufficient resources and technological means as well. As a consequence, inferiority complex among nations begins. From there, nations begin to change their systems to
The second phase following the previous stage is a precondition for take-off. Economic growth is starting to take place and it is essential to justify the means within a good definition. The society begins to implement the manufacturing of products while at the same time foreign intervention by advanced societies such as through colonialism is needed to bring about change in one's society .... ... middle of paper ...