Unequal societies: Whycivilization led to social divisions
With the advent of civilization, surplus agriculturemeant specialized labor would create a division insociety based on importance of position, religion,family and jobs. This social stratification would persistin some manner to this day
The establishment of a class system came through many systemspresent within each society
•Laws were quite often unequal and applied differently based on class.
•They punished slaves (POW, debtors or criminals) women and “foreigners”as well as commoners more severely. Slaves farmed agriculture, nobleestates and as domestic servants
•Laws would also recognize family law, inheritance,
•And decisions to go to war. who were making these ancient decisions?
252. If he kill a man's slave, he shall pay one-third of a mina.
Labor created social stratification…
•Control over trading regions led to the rise of a merchant class(Phoenicians and Minoans).
•China placed little value on the merchant because of the time away fromfamily(most important influence in culture)
•Labor was very important (what you did generally determined where onthe social strata you would be placed
•Labor in India was based on the caste: The Sudras did much of theagricultural work while the untouchables buried the dead, cleaned thestreets and sewers.
Religion was quite powerful ion the ancient world
•Priest-kings dominated Mesopotamia and the Olmecs (practiced rituals, celebratedimportant ceremonies and made important societal decisions
•Pharaohs claimed divine right over the people (see mummification)
•Hinduism served as the glue to hold together primarily decentralized India(castewas occupation, obligations and social arrangements
•Temples were centers of social interaction and religious control( Teotihuacan,Ziggurats, Shrines. Ancestor venerations)
Missing social voices?
•Slaves (not based on color)
•Peasants
•Women
•Commoners
•Farmers Most of these individual wereilliterate, owned no land
•Non-citizens and were commonlymarginalized
•Nomads
•Children
•Why?
Important writers and Artisans
•Scribes helped to keep records, document important events and account exports and imports
•Engineers would work for the government to help build monumental architecture anddevelop water management techniques
•Warriors would lead the elite fighting forces and their superior military technologies.
These individuals would hold a place just below nobility according them privileges,rights and entitlement (land, agriculture, fortune)
Sedentary Agriculturalist, nomadicpastoralists, sea-faring peoples
Type of System
Types of technologydeveloped
Main geographic locations
Agricultural societies –cultivate crops 8,000 BCE
domestication of plantsand animals iron toolswriting systems constantdevelopment
river valleys inMesopotamia, Nile Rivervalley, India, China andnon-River valleys inMesoAmerica and theAndes
Pastoral societies –domesticated animals8,000 BCE
domestication of horsesand camels
steppes, grasslands,deserts, mountain ranges
Sea-Faring Societies
Adaptation to maritimenavigation 2000 B.C.E
Ships, Sails, SeasonalWinds
Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean
Thesis
•From 4000 B.C.E-600 B.C.E in both South Asia and the Middle East the role ofwomen was diminished due to man’s need to protect his property inheritance,both had divisions of labor with a rigid social hierarchy with little chance of socialmobility, however the caste system of the Aryans was religiously based on theHindu principles illustrated in the Rig Veda while the social distinctions inMesopotamia were based on legal distinctions in the code of Hammurabi
