Anthropology 112 Introduction to Political

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Anthropology 112Introduction to Political
Scale CulturesJodi Perin (partly adapted from
Introduction to Cultural Anthropology Southwest
Texas State)
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Cultural Scale
Tribal World/domestic scale - dawn of humans through (to some extent) today
The production, maintenance, and reproduction of human beings and culture relatively egalitarian, low population densities relatively minimal technology and stuff
Imperial World/political scale - 7,000 years ago through (to some extent) today
The production and maintenance of centralized political power (e.g. taxation, conquest, urbanization, etc.) inegalitarian higher population densities cities lots of stuff for elites only
Commercial World/commercial scale - approx. 1600 A.D. to today
The production and maintenance of private profit-making business enterprises (e.g. industrialization, corporations, etc.), inegalitarian, high population densities mega-cities more and different technology/ stuff but very unevenly distributed
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Political scale societies, examples

• Ancient Egypt and The Roman Empire (not covered
  in Bodley)
• Pacific Islands The Ranked Chiefdoms (Chapter 6)
• Mesopotamia (Chapter 7)
• The Andes (Chapter 7)

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What are political scale societies like?

• relatively high population densities (compared
  to domestic/tribal scale cultures)
• Food mostly comes from intensive agriculture.
• requires the coordination of large scale labor
  to substantially alter the landscape.
• high inequality -- political rulers monopolize
  military, economic, and ideological power and
  material wealth
• high instability

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What do people eat?

• Usually, lots of grass seed (i.e. grain)
• It is not that nutritious compared to the foods
  eaten by domestic-scale cultures.  And there is
  less variety.
• More prone to agricultural diseases.
• But, some advantages
• Ability to produce huge quantities in relatively
  small spaces.
• Can be transported and stored with relative ease.
• Means that some people can raise food and others
  can specialize in other things -- being
  full-time rulers, priests, artisans, etc.

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When/how/why did political scale cultures come
about?

• First appeared around 6-7,000 years ago
• Political states seem to have emerged
  independently in several parts of the world (see
  Bodley pg. 27)
• Food domestication/technology clearly enabled the
  shift from tribal to political scale cultures,
  but they cant by themselves explain it.
• This shift is difficult to explain!
• Response to population pressure/environmental
  crisis?
• elite driven (Bodley pg. 25)
• More on this in chapter 7 . . .

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Taxation andAdvances in Record Keeping
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Public Works Massive Architecture
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Creation of wonders . . .
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But there are costs . . .

• More work
• More risk
• Lots more inequality (a.k.a. social
  stratification)
• Large differences in power and wealth between
  groups
• Class and caste
• Slavery/serfdom

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Coming up . . .

• Bodley Chapter 6 - Pacific Islanders The Ranked
  Chiefdoms