Individuals, Groups, and Society

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Individuals, Groups, and Society
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Main themes1. Social evolution and
modernization2. Cooperation and conflict in
society
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(No Transcript)
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• The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, 1 of 9
  planets in the Solar System (the Sun is 1 of at
  least 100 billion stars in our Galaxy)
• Warning VERY ROUGH estimates

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Grand Canyon, Arizona planet Earths history book
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• Biological life on Earth appeared 3.85 billion
  years ago (a very rough estimate).

Stromatolites some of the earliest known
bacteria on Earth
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Pre-human primates (apes) are thought to have
appeared 70 million years ago.
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The earliest ancestors of humans (hominids)
diverged from apes about 8 million years ago
Between 3 and 2 million years ago, they learned
to walk erect.
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Between 2 and 1.5 million years ago, hominids
began to migrate from Africa to other lands
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First Europeans approx. 780,000 years ago
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• About 100,000 years ago, those early humans went
  almost completely extinct as a result of a global
  ecological catastrophe
• It is possible that as few as 10,000 survived

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It was from those few survivors that man (homo
sapiens) emerged in Africa
Read this interview with Prof. Steven Pinker of
MIT on the evolution of the human mind
Evolution Library Steven Pinker Evolution of
the Mind
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As their numbers grew, homo sapiens began to
move across the continents in search of food,
water, land, and security
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• Human history can be described as a process of
  social evolution
• Just as biological evolution is development of
  simpler forms of life into more complex and
  highly organized forms of life,
• social evolution (or social development) is a
  process of
• growth of complexity and differentiation of
  social organization (cooperation between human
  beings,
• coordination of human activities)
• In other words,
• It is a process of creation and development of
  new, more complex, and more effective forms of
  social organization.
• It takes place under the influence of ecological,
  demographic, technological and economic factors.
• See Stephen Sanderson, Social Transformations.
  Blackwell, 1995, Ch. 1 - and
• Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel The Fates
  of Human Societies. Norton, 1997, 1999
• For an interesting discussion of theories of
  social evolution, go to
• Science and Society OVERVIEW PAGE

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From band to state
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• Band a small community bound by blood ties
• Not centralized, egalitarian (low inequality),
  low division of labour (mostly gender-based),
• Decisions are made collectively.
• Unity is based on customs and traditions
• Hunter and gatherer societies

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• Tribe a group of bands united for a common
  purpose
• In order to survive, humans tend to form bigger
  groups.
• Also egalitarian power is dispersed throughout
  the tribe.
• Leaders are first among equals, they dont have
  the means to compel tribesmen to obey. Custom,
  tradition, ritual, religious belief are the main
  tools to maintain social order.
• Agricultural societies (farming, animal husbandry)

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• Chiefdom a transitional form on the way from
  tribe to state.
• A larger society with more developed division of
  labour, higher productivity, which means that
  there is surplus product to use beyond mere
  subsistence.
• Private property appears, inequality grows,,
  people are more and more divided by class. Power
  emerges as something separate from society.
• Authority is formalized (institutionalized) in
  the office of the chief, which can be filled by
  different people. The chief has means of
  compelling members of society (military force)
• Develops in agricultural societies, which
  increasingly rely on slave labour
• Appears about 10,000 years ago

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• State a highly structured organization of power
  over a more developed, more complex,
  class-divided society.
• The state is capable of performing massive tasks
  
• suppressing social revolts,
• waging wars,
• organizing construction of fortresses, dams and
  canals,
• minting money.
• It has the power to tax and to punish those who
  break the law
• The city is the seat of state power
• First states appear in Egypt, Babylon, Assyria
  and Persia (Iran), beginning around 5,000 years
  ago.
• The beginning of recorded history

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Ancient Egyptian kinglist
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God Horus symbol of Pharaohs supreme power
The Pharaoh
The Pharaohs enemy
Tax collector
Enemy soldiers killed
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Ancient Babylon
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• From Band to State Summing Up
• -- As societies become more complex,
  differentiated, populous, and technologically
  advanced, their political organizations become
  more centralized and separate from society
• -- As societies develop from band to state, they
  become less egalitarian and less democratic
• -- As societies become more complex, the role of
  community decreases and the role of the state
  grows.

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From Antiquity to Modern Age Timeline Antiquity
3000 B.C.E. (Before Common Era) 400 C.E.
(Common Era). Classical (European) Antiquity
400 B.C.E.- 400 C.E. (from the rise of Ancient
Greece to the fall of Rome) Middle Ages 400
1400 C.E. (from the fall of Rome to the beginning
of Renaissance) Modern Age 1400 now (or, are
we in a post-modern age already?) (Note all
dates are approximate, based on certain pivotal
events, while in real life, the transitions from
one age to another were usually slow and
gradual) Old term B.C. (before
Christ) Old term A.D. (Anno Domini)
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Modernization 3 basic points 1. M. is the
development of industrial, urban, capitalist
(with important exceptions) societies, organized
in nation-states, guided by belief in reason,
science, and progress, and undergoing constant
change 2. M. has led to Western dominance over
the rest of the world through global development
of capitalism. The rest of the world has been
forced to modernize, too. In the 20th century,
important countries tried alternative paths of
modernization (socialist experiments in Russia,
China, India, Cuba, several other less developed
countries) 3. The West and the Rest can the
Western model be implemented in the rest of the
world? If not, what will happen to the West and
the Rest?
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Rise of productivity of human labour Per capita
income in Europe, for 1,000 years before 1700
Grew at 0.11 a year, doubling every 630
years. 1820-1990 (in 170 years) Grew by 10
times in Britain, by 15 times in Germany, by 18
times in USA, and by 25 times in
Japan. William J.Baumol, Sue Ann Batey
Blackman, and Edward N.Wolff, Productivity and
American Leadership The Long View (Cambridge
MIT Press, 1989), p.12 Angus Maddison, Dynamic
Forces in Capitalist Development (New York
Oxford University Press, 1991), pp.6-7
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The Population Explosion --10,000 years ago
5-6 million people lived on Planet Earth --1,000
BCE 150 million (grew by 30 times in 9,000
years, result of the agricultural
revolution) --1700 CE 500 million (grew by 3.3
times in 2,700 years --Today 6,723 billion
(grew by 13.5 times in 300 years, result of the
industrial revolution) Follow this link to the
current count http//www.census.gov/ipc/www/popcl
ockworld.html See Krishan Kumar, The Rise of
Modern Society, Basil Blackwell, 1988, p.13
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Urbanization The city appears in history 5,000
ago as a product of the Agricultural
Revolution. 1500 75 cities with total
population of 7.5 million (est.) 1800 3 of the
worlds population lived in cities 2000 47 of
the world lived in cities (411 cities with
population of 1 million or more, 41 megacities
with population of 5 million or more) 2030
(forecast) 60 will live in cities
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Growth of population, the past 3,500 years
Growth of agricultural production, the past
3,500 years
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The 20th century Modernization was tested
and challenged. Achievements Humanity has
survived It has grown in numbers, as never
before It has accumulated vast knowledge Its
labour has become vastly more productive
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• Costs
• The endless war, the threat of total annihilation
  of mankind
• Massive misuse of science and technology
  (creation of weapons of mass destruction, above
  all)
• The ecological crisis,
• Growth of inequality and tensions within and
  between societies (rich vs. poor, North vs.
  South)
• Etc.
• Result basic ideas of modernity are no longer
  taken for granted

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Are we entering a new age (post-modern,
post-industrial)? Arguments in favour 1.The
information technology revolution production and
processing of information becomes the most
important element of the production process.
Continuous innovation. Decoding and reprogramming
of living matter 2 The rise of the network
society networks of capital, labour,
information, and markets linked up globally
through technology. Society becomes ever more
complex,more fluid, more difficult to manage.
3. The economic crisis of both socialism and
capitalism 4. The nation-state is retreating
before global forces 5. The rise of new social
movements (feminism, environmentalism, human
rights, antiglobalism, pacifism, etc.) See, for
example, Manuel Castells. End of Millennium.
Blackwell Publishers, 1998, pp.335-360
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Cooperation and Conflict Both cooperation and
conflict are easily observed in society. But
different observers see different things Some
people emphasize that the natural condition of
humans is constant struggle with each other. If
people are free to do what they want, they will
likely fight each other. Those who hold this
view are more skeptical of freedom and stress the
need for order which needs to be imposed. For
instance, great English political thinker Thomas
Hobbes wrote in 1660 in his book Leviathan
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Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679
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• So that in the nature of man, we find three
  principal causes of quarrel. First, competition
  secondly, diffidence thirdly, glory.
• The first, maketh men invade for gain the
  second, for safety and the third, for
  reputation.
• The first use violence, to make themselves
  masters of other men's persons, wives, children,
  and cattle the second, to defend them the
  third, for trifles, as a word, a smile, a
  different opinion, and any other sign of
  undervalue, either direct in their persons, or by
  reflection in their kindred, their friends, their
  nation, their profession, or their name.
• Hereby it is manifest that during the time men
  live without a common power to keep them all in
  awe, they are in that condition which is called
  war and such a war as is of every man, against
  every man.
• Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, p.621

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• Others tend to assume that humans are naturally
  inclined to live together in peace and act
  together for common good.
• If people are free, they will likely cooperate
  with each other.
• From this view of human nature, it follows that
  society should be organized in such a way as to
  allow maximum individual freedom.
• The writings of classic liberal thinkers such as
  John Locke, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill reflect
  this approach

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Adam Smith (1723-1790)
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• Every man, as long as he does not violate the
  laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue
  his own interest his own way, and to bring both
  his industry and capital into competition with
  those of any other man, or order of men. The
  sovereign is completely discharged from a duty,
  in the attempting to perform which he must always
  be exposed to innumerable delusions, and for the
  proper performance of which no human wisdom or
  knowledge could ever be sufficient the duty of
  superintending the industry of private people,
  and of directing it towards the employments most
  suitable to the interest of the society.
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, p.651

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NOTE Both views proceed from the assumption
that cooperation is the essential condition of
human life. It is possible to imagine a human
community without conflict. It is by definition
impossible to imagine it without cooperation. The
essence of social evolution, progress is
development of more effective forms of social
cooperation.
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• Yet, conflict (competition) is also a natural
  feature of human life. Conflicts arise, for
  example
• between individuals who compete for scarce
  resources
• between classes, social groups over distribution
  of wealth and power
• between businesses over market control
• between political parties over who will rule
• between citizens and the state over the use of
  state authority
• between nation-states over territory, resources,
  markets, security

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Competition and cooperation are interlocked in
many ways. For instance Individuals tend to
compete with each other but they also form
groups (associations) in which they cooperate to
make themselves stronger through their groups So,
groups compete between each other but they are
compelled to cooperate to allow society to exist,
and because together they can better achieve
their common national goals So, nations compete
between each other but they cannot allow their
competition to endanger the existence of the
human species, so they must learn to cooperate
internationally or perish
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So, why do people compete? Scarcity of resources
(land, water, oil, money, etc.). Cuts both
ways Distribution of wealth and power, access to
them Who gets what, when and how Strongly held
conflicting beliefs, ideas I am right, you are
wrong I am good, you are evil Harold
Lasswells famous definition of politics
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Should differences always lead to
conflict? Obviously not. Each individual is
unique and needs maximum freedom to actualize
(realize) her or his potential. In this sense,
we are all individualists
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But this self-actualization can only be
developed through society through relationships
with other individuals. (John Donne No man is
an island). In this sense, we are all
collectivists. We depend on others to survive
and grow. We are interdependent and more so
each passing day and, paradoxically, it is
this growing interdependence that increases the
individual power of each one of us.
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Conflict is contained, and cooperation is
enhanced, in a society which ---has achieved a
high level of economic development, ---where
inequality is not extreme, and rules of
competition are fair, and upward social mobility
is open to many, ---and where people are tolerant
of differences between them.
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Socioeconomic factors of conflict Individuals
belong to many groups occupational, community,
ethnic, religious, etc. They belong to different
classes. Classes are defined by levels of
income ownership of the means of
production role in the management of the economy
and the state class consciousness Classes depend
on each other. Together, they form the fabric of
society And yet, class relations are often
characterized by tension and conflict At the core
of class divisions is the issue of private
property Class conflict can polarize and even
destroy society
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Since mid-19th century, critics of capitalism
predicted that acute class conflicts generated by
capitalist modernization would destroy
capitalism. But the Western model has turned out
to be more adaptive than many thought
possible. Where did the critics go wrong? One of
the possible answers They overestimated the role
of class conflict - and underestimated the role
of the state.
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Society can function and grow despite the
existence of class divisions and conflicts
unless they reach explosive levels Classes are
not the only forms of social division - and class
conflict can be superceded by other social
conflicts (gender, racial/ethnic, regional,
state-society conflicts, etc.). This prevents
total class polarization. Class interests rarely
find direct and immediate expression in politics
they are molded by many influences and
structures. Ones individual interests and class
interests can be at odds. Classes dont always
fight despite their differences, they are
integrated in a social whole. Appeals to national
unity can be more powerful than calls for class
struggle.
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A major cause of the success of the Western model
has been its ability to contain class conflict.
How Economic growth through global expansion of
capitalism Political democracy which helps
resolve class conflicts by allowing workers to
organize and struggle for their interests and
influence governmental policies Social mobility
chances to move upwards on the social
ladder Changes in the class structure as a
result of industrialization classes become more
fragmented, diffused Promotion of ideas,
beliefs and habits which discourage people from
thinking in terms of class (us vs. them)