Title: Politics, Race, and Religion
1Politics, Race, and Religion
Teotihuacán, Mexico
2Origin of Cities and States
- Around 6,000 B.C. is the first evidence of a
great transformation in the quality and scale of
human life. - differences in status among households
- differences in size of communities
- craft specialization
- extended political authority
- Around 3,500 B.C., most of the conventional
characteristics of civilization arose - writing
- cities
- full-time craft specialization
- monumental architecture
- differences in wealth and status
- strong, hierarchical, centralized political
system (state)
3First Civilizations
- Near East 3,500 B.C.
- NW India 2,500 B.C.
- Northern China 1,750 B.C.
- Mexico/Peru 300 B.C.
- Africa 800 A.D.
- This chapter covers
- Why did civilizations evolve?
- What conditions favored establishment of states?
- What conditions favored establishment of cities?
4Archaeological Inferences
- How do we know that people had social classes,
cities, or centralized government? - burial remains can indicate social inequality
- differences in house size and furnishings
- hierarchical decision making
- most people not directly involved in food
production - full-time religious or craft specialists
- public buildings
- official art style
- hierarchical social structure with an elite
- government claims monopoly on force
5Archaeological Inferences
- State Centralized political hierarchy with at
least three levels of administration. A state is
a society with a formal, central government, and
a division of society into classes. A state
controls specific regional territory. - How can we tell whether a society was a state or
not? - differing size of settlements
- evidence of trade
6First States - Southern Iraq
- Sumer, near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in
southern Iraq, is the location of some of the
earliest cities and states. - By 6,000 B.C., a herding-farming economy
developed. - From 5,000 to 3,500 B.C., many changes took place
that played a part in later creating cities and
states in this area. - small-scale irrigation
- increasingly complex social and political
- life (burial, special goods, temples, chiefdoms)
- By 3,500 B.C., there were quite a few
- cities at Sumer.
- Documents indicate numerous social classes.
- Sumerians had an elaborate (and one of the
- first) writing systems - cuneiform, or wedge-
- shaped writing shown at right.
7First States - Mesoamerica
- Mesoamerica Mexico and Central America
- later emergence of agriculture later emergence
of states - Teotihuacán is one of the earliest states in
Mesoamerica. - Located in NE part of Valley of Mexico
- Around 1,000 to 300 B.C., characterized by small,
scattered farming villages. - Between 300 B.C. and 200 B.C., elite centers
emerged. - Within 600 years, population went from about
3,000 people to 100,000 people. - City layout indicates enormous planning.
- Monte Albán - 500 B.C. in Valley of Oaxaca
- Probably began as a neutral place for political
units to meet.
8States in the Valley of Mexico
Major sites in the emergence of food production
and the state in Mesoamerica.
9First States - Other Areas
- Other state societies rose more or less
independently, meaning they emerged without
colonization or conquest by other states. - Egypt - 3,100 B.C.
- Ethiopia (Axum) - 1,000 A.D.
- Western Africa (Ghana) - 800 A.D.
- India (Harappan) - 2,300 B.C.
- China (Shang and Xia) - 1,750 B.C. and 2,200 B.C.
- Peru (Moche and Nazca) - 200 B.C.
- North America (Cahokia) - 1,000 A.D.
10Early States
Map showing the four great early river valley
states of the Old World.
11Origin of States - Theories
- Irrigation
- labor and management
- lead to unequal access to productive land
- border disputes lead to need for defense
- Population Growth, Circumscription, and War
- population growth leads to warfare and
competition - social circumscription prevents migration
- Local and Long-Distance Trade
- organizational and defense requirements
12Consequences of State Formation
- Positives
- larger and denser population allowances
- people freed to become craftspeople, merchants,
artists - art, music, and literature flourish
- organized religion develops
- Negatives (à la Jared Diamond)
- people cant refuse government (oppression and
force) - class stratification
- health issues worsen
- malnutrition or starvation from lack of access to
resources - state warfare and conquest
13Decline and Collapse of States
- Environmental Degradation
- natural causes (e.g., drought)
- behavior of humans
- depletion of natural resources
- change in soil content
- increase in incidence of disease (e.g., yellow
fever) - overextension of state
- conflict - internal or external
14Equality and Inequality
- Equality before law is the ideal, not the
reality. - Inequality is present more in socially stratified
societies, when people have unequal access to
economic or natural resources, power, and
prestige. - Three types of societies in terms of which social
groups have unequal access to advantages
egalitarian, rank, and class societies.
15Egalitarian Societies
- Egalitarian societies are those in which access
to resources, power, and prestige is more or less
equal among social groups. Does not mean that
all people in the society were treated the same
way. - Egalitarianism characterized most of human
history. - Found among foragers and horticulturists
- Prestige and high positions are not inheritable
keeps inequality to a minimum. - Economic resources are shared (food), and even
tools and weapons are passed from person to
person.
16Rank Societies
- Rank societies do not have very unequal access to
economic resources or to power, but they do
contain social groups with unequal access to
prestige. Rank societies are partly stratified. - Most societies with ranking practice agriculture
or herding. - The position of chief is at least partly
hereditary.
17Class Societies
- Class societies have unequal access to all three
advantages--economic resources, power, and
prestige. - Class is a category of people who all have about
the same opportunity to obtain economic
resources, power, and prestige. - Kinds of class systems
- open - U.S.
- caste - India, Japan
- slavery - formerly in U.S., Egypt, Greece,
Africa, etc.
18Race and Ethnicity
- Race is a social category, and racism is born out
of extreme ethnocentrism. - Cultural anthropologists completely reject the
idea of race, while some physical
anthropologists, especially forensic
anthropologists, hold on to some distinguishing
biological characteristics (but omit any judgment
based on them). - AAA race statement
19Political Life
- Political life involves even more than government
and politics. It also involves ways of
preventing or resolving troubles and disputes
both within and outside the society. - Formal governments have become pervasive in the
last 100 years all over the world. - Particularly focused on activities and beliefs
pertaining to territorial groups. - Variation in types
- Service - band, tribe, chiefdom, state
20Band Organization
- A band is a small (lt 100 people) and usually
nomadic group of people, which is politically
autonomous. - Mostly subsist by food collecting
- Egalitarian in nature
- Little or no political organization
- informal leadership
21Tribe Organization
- A tribe results when local communities mostly act
autonomously but when there are kinship groups
that can potentially integrate several local
groups into a larger unit. - Subsistence pattern is that of agriculture and/or
herding. - Small community size, low population density
- Egalitarian in nature
- Little or no political organization
- informal leadership
22Chiefdom Organization
- A chiefdom has some formal structure that
integrates more than one community into a
political unit. - Most commonly, there is a person--a chief--who
has a higher rank or authority than others. - Subsistence pattern is intensive agriculture
and/or herding - Large communities with medium population density
- Usually rank societies
- Some political organization
23State Organization
- A state is an autonomous political unit,
encompassing many communities within its
territory and having a centralized government
with the power to collect taxes, draft men for
work or war, and decree and enforce laws. - Usually have intensive agriculture and herding
- Population is concentrated in cities and towns
- Can have a class or caste society
- High degree of political organization
24Religion - Definitions
- Religion can be defined as any set of attitudes,
beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural
power, whether that power be forces, gods,
spirits, ghosts, or demons. - What is considered the supernatural varies from
one society to the next. - Many societies dont have a separate word for
religion--it is so integrated into politics, or
cultural identity, as with the ancient Greeks.
25Universality of Religion
- Religious beliefs and practices are found in all
known societies. - Oldest signs of religion date to at least 60,000
years BP, when people buried their dead and gave
offerings to the deceased. - Neandertal evidence could put this invention
earlier. - Herodotus, 5th century B.C., compared 50
societies - Anthropologists are not interested in what
specifically is believed in a culture, but why
religion is found in all societies and how and
why it varies from society to society.
26Theories of Religion
- There are four main theories of why religion is
created in society - Need to understand (Tylor)
- Reversion to childhood feelings (Freud)
- Anxiety and uncertainty (Malinowski)
- Need for community (Durkheim)
27Variation in Religious Beliefs
- Types of supernatural beings
- supernatural forces (mana, taboo)
- supernatural beings (gods, spirits, ghosts,
ancestor spirits) - Character of supernatural beings
- projection of parent-child relationship
(all-knowing) - Structure or hierarchy of supernatural beings
- monotheistic, polytheistic
- Intervention of the gods in human affairs
- Life after death
28Variation in Religious Practices
- Ways to interact with the supernatural
- prayer
- doing things to the body or mind
- simulation
- feasts
- sacrifices
- Magic
- witchcraft and sorcery
- Types of practitioner
- shaman
- sorcerers and witches
- mediums
- priests
29Religion and Adaptation
- Malinowski - Religions are adaptive because they
reduce anxieties and uncertainties that afflict
all people. - Harris - Religion can be adaptive in its taboos
and rules. - Hindu sacred cow example
- Religious change as revitalization