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Unfortunately, I'm not fluent in German and haven't read any of his works. Can't really comment on it. Broadly, in the English speaking anthropology community,
by AlotOfReading 1y ago
Unfortunately, I'm not fluent in German and haven't read any of his works. Can't really comment on it.
Broadly, in the English speaking anthropology community, the views you'll find are pretty well summarized by Kelly's Lifeways of Hunter-Gatherers, if you want English reading.
The vast majority of these groups probably would have been very vocally egalitarian to avoid even the appearance of status and power. Everyone's aware of it, simply to avoid it because of the social repercussions that come from the association and the fact that others can simply leave you.
- moritzwarhier 1y agoThanks for your reply! The back-cover text of the book I linked explicitly says the same, but with a strong reversal of causation. Roughly translated and summarized, it says: "Genuinely egalitarian societies must be small and tight-knit". It kind of ties egalitarianism to hunter-gatherer tribes, and even doubts the possibility of egalitarianism in industrialized (and even agriculture-driven) socieities. I'm not here to replicate this claim, the book's contents are of course more nuanced that my summary of the cover text. I think it even quotes Kelly, but I'd have to move my fat ass to the shelve and look up the appendix to confirm this. It discusses many different works about pre-modern societies.