Socio-political organization in the Aceramic Neolithic of southwestern Asia: The complex evolution of socio-political complexity

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 17-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Rosenberg ◽  
Thomas R. Rocek
Keyword(s):  
Political Organization ◽  
Political Complexity ◽  
Aceramic Neolithic

scholarly journals Mode and tempo in the evolution of socio-political organization: reconciling ‘Darwinian’ and ‘Spencerian’ evolutionary approaches in anthropology

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1567) ◽  
pp. 1108-1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Currie ◽  
Ruth Mace
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Regular Sequence ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Political Complexity ◽  
Herbert Spencer ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

Traditional investigations of the evolution of human social and political institutions trace their ancestry back to nineteenth century social scientists such as Herbert Spencer, and have concentrated on the increase in socio-political complexity over time. More recent studies of cultural evolution have been explicitly informed by Darwinian evolutionary theory and focus on the transmission of cultural traits between individuals. These two approaches to investigating cultural change are often seen as incompatible. However, we argue that many of the defining features and assumptions of ‘Spencerian’ cultural evolutionary theory represent testable hypotheses that can and should be tackled within a broader ‘Darwinian’ framework. In this paper we apply phylogenetic comparative techniques to data from Austronesian-speaking societies of Island South-East Asia and the Pacific to test hypotheses about the mode and tempo of human socio-political evolution. We find support for three ideas often associated with Spencerian cultural evolutionary theory: (i) political organization has evolved through a regular sequence of forms, (ii) increases in hierarchical political complexity have been more common than decreases, and (iii) political organization has co-evolved with the wider presence of hereditary social stratification.

Funerary practices

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrice Brun
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Funerary Practices ◽  
Burial Practices ◽  
Political Complexity ◽  
Alpine Zone ◽  
The Social ◽  
Status Differentiation ◽  
Political Economic

This chapter surveys burial practices across Iron Age Europe, working outwards from the Circum-Alpine zone. During this period, only a fraction of the population was formally buried, in varying proportions over time and space. These were generally members of the political, economic, and religious elite, as is most clear in the case of richly furnished and monumental graves. Among communities of equivalent political complexity, however, some practised more modest burial, lacking clear status differentiation in their graves. Funerary practices carry ideological messages about how communities wish to appear, symbolically materializing the relations of the social group with the land on which they live and perpetuating the memory of certain people in the consciousness of the survivors. The social significance of Iron Age mortuary practices is examined: detailed analysis of differences between graves and cemeteries provides a wealth of information ranging from individual social relationships to economic and political organization.

“I’m just aware they’re labels”

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Smith
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Origin ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
Sexual Identities ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Class Status ◽  
Sexual Identification ◽  
Minority Ethnic ◽  
Divine Order

This article discusses fieldwork in two research projects on Buddhists in London. It explores issues involved in researching lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and/or intersex (LGBTQI) Buddhists. It also considers issues around heterosexual identities in Buddhist communi-ties. In researching dynamics of gender and sexual identification of participants it was observed that at times participant narratives treated these identities for these axes of difference as provisional and contingent rather than essential, fixed and a basis for socio-political organization. This contrasts with much of the work on religion and sexuality in mainstream theistic traditions, where their LGBTQI members often argue a “reverse discourse” asserting their place in a “Divine Order” in which their sexual/gender identity is a key part of “who they are.” It is argued that theoretical approaches based on queer theorizing could be particularly applicable to research on Western Buddhist perspectives on gender and sexual identities. This is attributed to the anti-essentialist approach Buddhism takes to questions of subjectivity and identification and its non-hegemonic status in the West. Such queer theorizing would, however, need to acknowledge the constraints to “border crossings” between identity positions arising from oppressive forces from gender minoritization, class status, minority ethnic origin, and so on. It is also suggested that research on the heterosexual majority can elucidate ways in which faith communities are gendered, racialized and stratified by class.

Mammai Mataji

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-126
Author(s):  
Peter Maddock
Keyword(s):  
Social Values ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Western India ◽  
Right Action ◽  
Great Goddess ◽  
The World ◽  
Feminine Divine

The theological and sociological implications associated with the existence (or non-existence) of ancient Great Goddess religions have been hotly debated for more than half a century, even prior the rise of recognizable feminist approaches to Archaeology and Religious Studies. This rare, if not unique, ethnographic account of such a theology as practised today is therefore a significant intervention, hopefully putting some clothes on otherwise naked speculation. The Sorathiya Rabari pastoralists of Saurastra, western India, hold Mammai Mataji as their Godhead. Mammai Dharma (religion) provides their path to salvation and a guide to right action in the world. It is a vital ingredient of Sorathiya Rabari identity and offers a structure for intra-caste political organization. Like most other Hindus, Rabari social values are unambiguously patriarchal, so how this coexists with belief in an omnipotent feminine Divine is explored throughout the article.

American Insecurity

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Seth Levine
Keyword(s):  
Political Behavior ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
College Tuition ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Care Costs ◽  
Politically Active

Americans today face no shortage of threats to their financial well-being, such as job and retirement insecurity, health care costs, and spiraling college tuition. While one might expect that these concerns would motivate people to become more politically engaged on the issues, this often doesn't happen, and the resulting inaction carries consequences for political debates and public policy. Moving beyond previously studied barriers to political organization, this book sheds light on the public's inaction over economic insecurities by showing that the rhetoric surrounding these issues is actually self-undermining. By their nature, the very arguments intended to mobilize individuals—asking them to devote money or time to politics—remind citizens of their economic fears and personal constraints, leading to undermobilization and nonparticipation. The book explains why the set of people who become politically active on financial insecurity issues is therefore quite narrow. When money is needed, only those who care about the issues but are not personally affected become involved. When time is needed, participation is limited to those not personally affected or those who are personally affected but outside of the labor force with time to spare. The latter explains why it is relatively easy to mobilize retirees on topics that reflect personal financial concerns, such as Social Security and Medicare. In general, however, when political representation requires a large group to make their case, economic insecurity threats are uniquely disadvantaged. Scrutinizing the foundations of political behavior, the book offers a new perspective on collective participation.

History Through the Prism of V.V. Rozanov’s Views and Myth-Creating

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 40-48
Author(s):  
Galina V. Talina
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Creative Work ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Static Image ◽  
State Bureaucracy ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Public Person

The article analyzes V.V. Rozanov’s conceptions of antiquity, Middle Ages and new history. Rozanov singles out three periods of Russian history – Kiev, Vladimir-Moscow and Petersburg ones. The essence of each of those periods the philosopher consecutively correlates with adoption of Christianity, political organization formation and the beginning of individual creative work dominance. While interpreting his contemporary events as a public person and a journalist, Rozanov regards earlier epochs from the position of a myth-creator. The diverse historical process gives way to the literary and static image of the epoch. The author of the article pays special attention to how Rozanov characterizes historical personalities, to his views on the role of religion, state, bureaucracy and parliamentarism.

Our universities away from partisan Altsarat

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
أ.د.عبد الجبار احمد عبد الله
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Moral Duty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Office ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The University

In order to codify the political and partisan activity in Iraq, after a difficult labor, the Political Parties Law No. (36) for the year 2015 started and this is positive because it is not normal for the political parties and forces in Iraq to continue without a legal framework. Article (24) / paragraph (5) of the law requires that the party and its members commit themselves to the following: (To preserve the neutrality of the public office and public institutions and not to exploit it for the gains of a party or political organization). This is considered because it is illegal to exploit State institutions for partisan purposes . It is a moral duty before the politician not to exploit the political parties or some of its members or those who try to speak on their behalf directly or indirectly to achieve partisan gains. Or personality against other personalities and parties at the expense of the university entity.

POLISI, KEKERASAN DAN SENJATA API

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Koesparmono Irsan ◽  
Anggreany Haryani Putri
Keyword(s):  
Security System ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
State Security ◽  
The People ◽  
National Police

Brimob is a special top of Indonesian National Police Force, Brimob was trained to face special crimes using guns and other special weapon to face crimes using force. All politics is a struggle for power is violence. The reemergence in the early 1980s of terrorism motivated by a religions imperative and state-sponsored terrorist set in motion perfound changes in the nature, motivations and capabilitis of terrorist that are still unfolding. Torture is used as a strategic component of state security system to achieve board political ends thorugh the victimizaztion of individuals which serves pain of suffering, wether physical of metal, is intentionally inflicted : ‘many person, of course, harbor all sorts of radical and extreme belifts and opinion, and many of them belong to radical or even illegal of proscribed political organization. However, if they do not use violence in the pursuance of their beliefs, they cannot be considered terrorist. The willful application of force in such a way that is intentionally injurious to the person or group against whom it applied. Injury is under stood to include psychological as well as physical harm. Police use arms to protect himself and the people.

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