tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35658622.post8358021304939763075..comments2023-11-18T08:09:26.056+13:00Comments on Abandoned Footnotes: Footnotes on Things I’ve been Reading: Christopher Boehm, Hierarchy in the ForestXavier Marquezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10099356104979121153noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35658622.post-14396175772659082442014-07-03T05:48:39.148+12:002014-07-03T05:48:39.148+12:00As an anthropologist who definitely hasn't rea...As an anthropologist who definitely hasn't read all the literature I don't think it true that foraging societies are all egalitarian or at least that there is little consensus about it. Not having read his book I find it hard to know how he defines foragers but the debate on egalitarianism among hunter gatherers, primitive communism etc is I think quite a live one e.g. debates over the Kalahari etc. My impression was that Bonabos are not particularly hierarchical and that, to the extent that they are it is the females who are dominant, I also think there are quite a few bonabos who practice the exit option and bonabos do not kill strays and unlike chimps Bonabos first resonse on meeting a stranger is to have sex with them, (though again I am no expert and may well be wrong). The point I would take is that some societies, including many quite successful ones are markedly more egalitarian than others and any recourse to 'nature' to justify it falls on this hurdleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35658622.post-51502829836679320432012-11-30T17:00:14.525+13:002012-11-30T17:00:14.525+13:00"Whether truly egalitarian complex societies ..."Whether truly egalitarian complex societies are possible seems like an open question, and one that cannot be answered by simply pointing to modern democracies"<br /><br />Yes, this seems right. But the question clearly also can't be answered in the negative just by pointing to the status hierarchies formed by primates and implying that this is the 'default' or 'natural' human tendency, as some conservatives are probably prone to do; and this book, to judge from your post, would be a strong addition in the arsenal of egalitarians who want to answer that line. In this connection the argument about the link between symbolic communication and the ability to form stable anti-dominance coalitions is v. interesting. Hadn't encountered this point before, I don't think. (On the other hand it is the case, as you say, that the last 5,000 yrs or so (maybe even 10,000) of human arrangements have featured more inegalitarianism, of one sort or another, than equality.) LFChttp://howlatpluto.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com