6. Political Anthropology: When Communism Works and Why | What is Politics?

Everywhere we look, past and present we see hierarchical societies where some people have more wealth, more power, and more rights than others.  Was this always the state of the human world?  Is hierarchy in our nature?  Are egalitarian societies possible for human beings?  If so, under what conditions?   And is freedom compatible with equality?

SUGGESTED READINGS BELOW!  

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SUGGESTED READINGS:

“The causes and scope of political egalitarianism during the Last Glacial” by Doron Shulnitzer et al., 2010 in Biology and Philosophy N° 25

Hierarchy in the Forest, by Christopher Boehm, 1999

The Dobe Ju/’Hoansi, by Richard Lee 1984/2012

”Eating Christmas in the Kalahari”, by Richard Lee, 1969

The Forest People, by Colin Turnbull, 1961

Wayward Servants, by Colin Turnbull, 1965

“Taming Wild-Ass Colts” by Nancy Nienhuis, 2009 in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 25, No 1. pp. 43-64

Myths of Male Dominance, edited by Eleanor Leacock, 1981

The Hadza Hunter-Gatherers, by Frank Marlowe, 2010

The Politics of Egalitarianism: Theory and Practice, edited by Jaqueline Soloway, 2006

Politics and History in Band Societies, edited by Eleanor Leacock & Richard Lee, 1982

Hunters and Gatherers Vol II: Property, Power and Ideology, edited by Tim Ingold, David Riches & James Woodburn, 1987  

The Foraging Spectrum, by Robert L. Kelly, 2013

Chimpanzee Politics, by Franz de Waal, 2007

”Farewell to the Childhood of Man”, by David Graeber & David Wengrow, 2015 (the thesis of this article conflicts with the narrative presented in this episode, and will be addressed in the next episode)