Exam 3 Review 05 17 2012 Robert Bellah Religious Evolution Primitive Mythical beings deeply implemented in all aspects of human life ACTION Participation ritual enactment of mythical events and the fusing of participants self identities w mythical beings o Little leverage for changing its surrounding world Primitive religion becomes systematized into true cultic worship o Rise of two class system of domination made possible by agriculture Mythical figures elaborated more fully more objectified definitive and separate from human world ACTION communication through worship part sacrificial Archaic Historic Critical turn in human history during first millennium BCE Conception of some other realm of reality transcending this worldly life and hierarchically superior to it becomes the critical goal of religious action Salvation Early Modern Religion Reverting the hierarchical structuring of historic religion Rejection of concept of salvation mediated by religious specialists in favor of direct salvation of individuals Modern Religion Locating the divine symbolically within the self Religion Action goal Religious Organizaiton General Evolutionary Level individual salvation etc everyman Democratic State God Imminent in church state salvation priest Historic State sacrifice headman Chiefdom identity everyman Band Type of Religion MODERN HISTORIC ARCHAIC PRIMITIVE sic Religious Symbol System Transcendent God Religion disembedded dichotomous non estranged spirits unified mythic order profane sacre d Political Organization All societies have some sort of political system Political leadership roles make decisions concerning the group as a whole lead community act as spokesman in dealing with outsiders Not necessarily mean that they are richer than others Foraging societies Large scale societies Political roles are usually temporary and short term Organized into bureaucracies different responsibility and power ranked relative to each other Ex US Pres Sec of state Etc Inheritance through kinship based ties Inheritance from deceased relative Democratic Societies Politicians elected inheritance is frowned upon Small scale Foraging Societies Succession from personal achievement rather than election o Generally understood in community indv has proven his ability more than others Political Symbol Idea or physical thing used as tool for focusing attention and emotions of people Ex Flag Herbert Hoover a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage Levels of Political Integration Troop Bands Political power diffused throughout the society Found primarily among foragers Extremely egalitarian all families are essentially equal no economic class differentiation o Informal leaders often ppl who have best memories best hunters most successful curers most gifted speakers have special ability Temporary political power Principal goal of politics making sure ppl get along with each other Most frequently bands are patrilocal Reside with male s residential group Basic unite nuclear family man wife and their children Band Fissioning splitting the band along family lines Community problems quarrels Pedestrian foraging bands women status and power surprisingly high compared to pastoralist and agricultural societies Tribes supraband Somewhat more complex society than band Population increases with shift in subsistence pattern from foraging to horticulture or pastoralism Kinship ties and friendship no longer sufficient to hold society together Pantribal Associations Sodalities Groups that cross cut society bring together limited number of ppl Serve to create order and sense of unity for a tribe o Ex New Guinea All men traditionally lived together in big house women lived with their daughters and young sons in their own houses close to gardens Older boys went through initiation cermemony to move to big house Village Headman perform leadership roles relatively limited authority Past goal to increase status and power Most Tribal societies essentially egalitarian no one family is politically economically superior to others Tribes are larger and differ in integration from Bands Chiefdoms Similar to band and tribes in being mostly classless societies DIFFER have more less permanent fulltime leader with real authority to make major decisions for their societies chiefs Government in just the chief Ex Baganda Bunyoro Uganda Political leadership centralized and usually hereditary Chiefs generally higher standard of living than ordinary people o Usually functions as judge in dispute cases Truth testers to deal with legal cases often use ordeal to determine truth Chiefdoms usually more effective in warfare o Higher populations can assemble larger military o Provide centralized direction States First appeared in societies with large scale intensive agriculture Begin as chiefdoms evolved into more centralized Only the government has the legal use of force at its disposal Stratified into largely distinct classes in terms of wealth power and prestige Most ancient states had slavery Why Give Up Bands Developed States Major Environmental changes Growing population Pressure Voluntaristic Theory People made rational economic decisions that led them inevitably to develop the first states Food surpluses allowed some to spend more time developing sophisticated man products Others became full time traders to distribute surplus Hydraulic Theory state level political systems arose out of need to construct and manage large scale irrigation systems necessary for intensive agriculture elaborate irrigation systems required leadership to org labor needed for this purpose Coercive Theory states developed as a means of mobilizing armies to conquer competitive neighboring ppls Increasing pop resulted in competition for scarce resources Multi Cause Explanation changes in a society always interrelated in complex ways like the organs of a human body Conflict vs Integration Theories Rights of Indv in band or tribe level societies vs state level societies MORE Rights in simpler societies Rights lost in Evolution of state Conflict Theories Modern Conflict Theory Socieites are Egalitarian least inequality Ranked more inequality fewer positions of valued status than indv capable of filling them Stratified even more inequality division into classes groups with unequal access to the basic resources necessary to sustain life Stratification itself not enough to produce the state Stratified non state society will either o Collapse and return to a simpler level