The Origin of Civilization
and the State
SOC 370: Social Change
Dr. Kimberly Martin
Elman Service’s Levels of
Sociocultural Integration
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
Empires
Bands
• Small (30-50 individuals) groups,
• Egalitarian groups,
• Usually nomadic/semi-nomadic
hunter/foragers,
• Social organization based on personal
kinship relationships,
• Use reciprocity to distribute goods and
services,
• Gender and age division of labor
• Situational leadership
Tribes
Small (100-500 individuals),
Egalitarian groups, usually nomadic/semi-nomadic
or villages
Horticultural or pastoralists
Social organization based on lineage membership
where lineages are not ranked
Distribution of goods and services through
reciprocity
Part time economic specialization
Leaders selected by personal qualifications
No ability to enforce
Chiefdoms
Medium-sized (1000’s of individuals),
Ranked or stratified groups,
Usually sedentary
Horticultural or pastoralists, occasionally hunters and
gatherers/foragers
Hierarchical social organization based on ranked lineages
(kin-based)
Distribution of goods and services through redistribution or
market system depending on amount of surplus
Part-time or full time economic specialization
Centralized government with a paramount chief
No centralized formal enforcement of rules or ability to
suppress deviance and revolt
Intermediate between tribes and states
States
Large (100,000 to millions of individuals),
Stratified groups with social classes and a ruling class,
Urban settlements and large populations,
Agricultural subsistence and large surpluses
Social organization based on non-kin relationships
Distribution of goods and services through a market system
(general purpose money)
Full time economic specialization/industrialization including
political leaders and military
Monopoly of force, both internal and external
System of law (rules with centralized enforcement)
Dispute resolution through formal (judicial) procedures
Bureaucratic systems
Formal leaders (monarchy or elected or by force)
Empires
• A state that has conquered and
rules by force one or more other
societies. The force can be
military, but it can be non-violent
coercion as well
• The Roman Empire
• The Spanish Empire
• The British Empire
Fried’s Materialism
Morton Fried’s Theory of Evolution
of Societies through the
development of Social
Stratification
1. Egalitarian Societies = Bands/Tribes
(no prestige, wealth or power differences)
2. Ranked Societies = Chiefdoms
(prestige differences, not power or wealth)
3. Stratified Societies = States/Empires
(wealth, power and prestige differences)
States
States are always stratified
All stratified societies are not states (there
are stratified chiefdoms - e.g. Hawaii)
Which came first? States or stratification?
If stratification leads to states, what leads to
stratification?
States are necessary for civilizations
Civilizations are states that have acquired:
cities, writing, & monumental architecture
Using Archaeological and
Historical Evidence
• This is a diachronic approach that utilizes
evidence from different periods of time
over the course of the last 5000 years
• Archaeological and historical evidence
directly reflect change through time
The Rise of States
(and Civilizations)
• Eight major centers where states and/or
civilizations arose independently world
wide = Parallel Evolution
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Africa outside of Egypt
China
Indus Valley
Europe
Mesoamerica
Peru
General Characteristics
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cities or ceremonial centers
Centralized or City-State governments
Economic specialization
Agriculture
Stratification
Large populations (10,000 -400,000)
Sometimes Also
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Trade networks
Irrigation agriculture
Theocracy
Monumental architecture
Writing
Centralized military
Feudal systems
How Fast?
Much evidence seems to suggest a
“punctuated equilibrium” model for the
change to state societies.
Many sites of early states seem to have
emerged very rapidly, with monumental
architecture being build over a relatively
short period of time.
Five Theories about the Origin
of the State and Civilization
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Marxist Explanations
Population growth
Irrigation agriculture
Trade/economic exchange
Circumscription Theory (Carniero)
1. Marxist Conflict Theory
• Stratified societies are unstable because
of the imbalance in resource control
• The ruling class needs the state and its
monopoly of force to maintain their wealth
and power.
• Elites compete over shares of the surplus
• Exploited class resist exploitation, but are
disorganized and easily overcome by force
2. Populations Pressure
• Populations pressure leads to scarcity of
and increased demand for land
• Land becomes privately owned and
defended as property – differential access
Vs.
to low-risk crop land.
• Land owners monopolize a major resource
and become the ruling class
• The ruling class needs the state and its
monopoly of force to defend themselves
from challenges from the peasantry
3. Irrigation Agriculture
• Irrigation agriculture requires cooperative
work to build public works like terracing or
other systems to transport water
• Massive projects require large scale
organization and administration
• This administration morphs into the state,
as the irrigation system allows more food
to be grown, more population growth and
more demand for food.
4. Trade
• Internal trade
• External trade
• State serves to protect merchants and
negotiates trade advantages
• State helps extract surplus from peasants (force)
• Strong, stable state is necessary for trade to
thrive
• Trade for subsistence Vs.
• Trade for exotic luxuries (elite control of exotic
goods)
• Competition by leaders to provide luxuries to
others in the upper class
5. Circumscription Theory
• Where geographical obstacles existed that
prevented expansion, population pressure
and crowding lead to conflict, conquest,
slavery and empire building
• Social circumscription is also possible
where neighboring groups prevent
expansion
• Resource concentration is an other
variation on this theme – resource
concentration causes people to crowd
together in one place
Functionalist Theories
• Assume that the state is a solution for
problems associated with
• Population pressure
• Trade networks
• Building monumental architecture or
irrigation systems
• Circumscription
Sanderson’s Choice?
• A combination of Circumscription
Theory and Marxist class conflict
Study Guide
Bands
Tribes
Chiefdoms
States
Empires
Archaeological evidence
Ethnographic evidence
Synchronic
Diachronic
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Africa (not Egypt)
Functionalist theories
Indus Valley
China
Mesoamerican
Peru
Cities
Ceremonial centers
Theocracy
Marx
Population pressure
Irrigations systems
Trade
Circumscription theory