Life without Chiefs

Marvin Haris (USA)


Literal Comprehension:

 Marvin Harris is an American professor of anthropology. He studied the origin of human society and power structure. It seems, in the modern world, that humans can’t exist without some people ruling and others being ruled. Even in democratic states, people are facing inequalities in the name of wealth, rank and power. But, our ancestors lived without rulers. Then people used to give without the expectation of taking and take without the expectation of giving. They used to believe in reciprocity.

 In those societies, political leadership existed and it was exercised by individuals called headmen. But those headmen had not to power to compel others to obey their orders. So, if a headman wanted to stay in office, he’d give few commands. In most matters, the leader’s opinions carried no more weight than any other man’s. Headman ship was a tiresome job. In the morning the headman had to shout to wake his companions. If something needed to be done, it was the headman who had to do it, and it was the headman who worked harder than anyone else. He set an example not only for hard work but also for generosity. In the evening, the headman had to urge his people to be good.

 During that time, natural resources were all communal property. That is, there was the absence of private possession in land and other vital resources. The form of exchange known as redistribution played a crucial role in creating distinctions of rank during the evolution of chiefdoms and states. In those days, our forefathers agreed to accept the headmen as redistributors. They would store food and other valuables at the headmen.

 Initially, redistribution strictly supported the political and economic equality. The redistributors were compensated with admiration and in proportion to their success in giving bigger feasts. Soon, there were several would-be headmen vying with each other to hold the most lavish feasts and redistribute the most food and other valuables. In that fashion there evolved the nemesis: the youth who wanted to be a “big man.”

 The slide (=ascent) toward social stratification gained momentum wherever extra food produced by the inspired diligence of redistributors could be stored while waiting for occasions of redistribution. In times of scarcity, people would come to him; in return, he could call upon those who had special skills for his own use. Finally, the redistributors no longer needed to work in the fields to gain big man status. Management of the harvest surpluses was sufficient to validate his status. His domination was no longer a small village but a larger political community. The big man had become chief. Supported by voluntary donations, chiefs could enjoy lifestyles that set them apart from their followers.

Chiefdoms would eventually evolve into states, states into empires. From peaceful origins, humans created “a wild beast”, which has now taken us to the edge of global destruction. To save ourselves from this danger, we must understand that this process of cultural evolution is responsible for the divisions and conflicts within societies, not the notion that we are an innately aggressive species for whom war is inevitable.



Interpretation:

Human beings are not an innately aggressive species.


We must reject unscientific claims that there are superior and inferior races and that the hierarchical divisions within and between societies are the consequences of natural selection rather than of a long process of Cultural Revolution.


Suggests that we should gain control over cultural selection to create a just society.