GGS - Chapter 14

The main factor that determines a society's social organization is population; there are four main types of organization: band, tribe, chiefdom and state. Bands consist of dozens of kin nomads in an egalitarian society. Because everyone is related, decision-making is done by consensus and exchanges are reciprocal. Tribes are organizations of hundreds that breakdown into kin-based clans that each control a portion of land. Still, everyone is related either my family or marriage so decision-making and conflicts are resolved informally. The organization is still egalitarian, sometimes containing a big-man. Exchanges are reciprocal, so no one clan can be wealthy than others. Tribes must have some sort of food production and sedentary lifestyle to foster hundreds of people.

The next step up is chiefdoms. Because people don't know each other as often in this society, a centralized power is established with a monopoly on force to settle disputes. There are food-producers who feed the chief and specialized workers (society is stratified into heritage lineages). Wealth is redistributive, where everyone gives tributes to the chief who in turn distributes it to the society. Public architecture can also be conscripted by the chief. States are the next step up, with more formalized laws, taxation, specialized bureaucrats (not just a bureaucrat that handles all public affairs), police force, a state religion, etc.

But why would the public tolerate tributes, especially when they can be uneven. The elite often dearm the populace, distribute tributes to public works, monopolize force to promote order and construct an ideology/religion to justify central authority.

Food production leads to complex societies through the interaction between population density and societal organization. Food production: seasonal labor allows for farmers to be conscripted for public works, food storage allows for specialized occupations and the sedentary lifestyle allows for accumulation of technology. The increased population also necessitates the formation of a complex society with centralized power: increased strangers leads to the need for power to settle disputes, a centralized power is needed to make communal decisions as well as foster economic trade between specializations. Finally, as people begin to occupy more land, each piece of land has a decreasing potential to allow self-sufficiency, forcing people to co-operate.

**This was probably the worst post to date. Lots of information, kinda dry and it was tackled over many days. Hopefully, the momentum of the book overall won't drag!