The economic origins of ultrasociality

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Gowdy ◽  
Lisi Krall
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Social Insects ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Active Management ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Species Groups ◽  
City States

AbstractUltrasociality refers to the social organization of a few species, including humans and some social insects, having a complex division of labor, city-states, and an almost exclusive dependence on agriculture for subsistence. We argue that the driving forces in the evolution of these ultrasocial societies were economic. With the agricultural transition, species could directly produce their own food and this was such a competitive advantage that those species now dominate the planet. Once underway, this transition was propelled by the selection of within-species groups that could best capture the advantages of (1) actively managing the inputs to food production, (2) a more complex division of labor, and (3) increasing returns to larger scale and larger group size. Together these factors reoriented productive life and radically altered the structure of these societies. Once agriculture began, populations expanded as these economic drivers opened up new opportunities for the exploitation of resources and the active management of inputs to food production. With intensified group-level competition, larger populations and intensive resource exploitation became competitive advantages, and the “social conquest of Earth” was underway. Ultrasocial species came to dominate the earth's ecosystems. Ultrasociality also brought a loss of autonomy for individuals within the group. We argue that exploring the common causes and consequences of ultrasociality in humans and the social insects that adopted agriculture can provide fruitful insights into the evolution of complex human society.

A Futures Study on the Quality Of Life from the Point Of View of Iranian Youth

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sina Saeedy ◽  
Mojtaba Amiri ◽  
Mohammad Mahdi Zolfagharzadeh ◽  
Mohammad Rahim Eyvazi
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Satisfaction With Life ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Futures Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
The University

Quality of life and satisfaction with life as tightly interconnected concepts have become of much importance in the urbanism era. No doubt, it is one of the most important goals of every human society to enhance a citizen’s quality of life and to increase their satisfaction with life. However, there are many signs which demonstrate the low level of life satisfaction of Iranian citizens especially among the youth. Thus, considering the temporal concept of life satisfaction, this research aims to make a futures study in this field. Therefore, using a mixed model and employing research methods from futures studies, life satisfaction among the students of the University of Tehran were measured and their views on this subject investigated. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analysed together in order to test the hypotheses and to address the research questions on the youth discontentment with quality of life. Findings showed that the level of life satisfaction among students is relatively low and their image of the future is not positive and not optimistic. These views were elicited and discussed in the social, economic, political, environmental and technological perspectives. Keywords:  futures studies, quality of life, satisfaction with life, youth

Diversity, Rationality, and the Division of Cognitive Labor

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Muldoon
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Additional Insight ◽  
Division Of Cognitive Labor ◽  
Social Structure Of Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Insight Into

Existing models of the division of cognitive labor in science assume that scientists have a particular problem they want to solve and can choose between different approaches to solving the problem. In this essay I invert the approach, supposing that scientists have fixed skills and seek problems to solve. This allows for a better explanation of increasing rates of cooperation in science, as well as flows of scientists between fields of inquiry. By increasing the realism of the model, we gain additional insight into the social structure of science and gain the ability to ask new questions about the optimal division of labor.

The Social and Institutional Bases of Distributive Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Cooperation ◽  
Economic Production ◽  
Political Cooperation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Principles Of Justice ◽  
Trade And Exchange ◽  
Cooperative Institutions

This chapter argues that distributive justice is institutionally based. Certain cooperative institutions are basic: they are necessary for economic production and the division of labor, trade and exchange, and distribution and consumption. These background institutions presuppose principles of justice to specify their terms, allocate productive resources, and define fair distributions. Primary among these basic institutions are property; laws and conventions enabling transfers of goods and productive resources; and the legal system of contract and agreements that make transfers possible and productive. Political institutions are necessary to specify, interpret, enforce, and make effective the terms of these institutions. Thus, basic cooperative institutions are social; they are realizable only within the context of social and political cooperation—this is a fixed empirical fact about cooperation among free and equal persons. Given the nature of fair social cooperation as a kind of reciprocity, distributive justice is primarily social rather than global in reach.

scholarly journals The Construction of Peace in the Chiapas Highlands: Indigenous Resistance to Structural Violence

2020 ◽  
pp. 0094582X2097501
Author(s):  
Efrén Orozco López ◽  
Leonardo Nicolás González Torres
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
Volunteer Work ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
Solidarity Economy ◽  
Social Fabric ◽  
Indigenous Resistance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sociedad Civil

The indigenous community of Acteal in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, has been subject to both direct and structural violence in the form of the massacre that took place there in 1997 and the impunity that has persisted ever since. In response to the violence, the community has constructed political, social, and cultural alternatives through the movement known as the Las Abejas of Acteal Civil Society Organization. Its reconstruction of the social fabric has included participation in assembies, volunteer work for the collective, exchange of experiences, food production for subsistence, a solidarity economy, and the systematization and sharing of experiences. La comunidad indígena de Acteal en las tierras altas de Chiapas, México, ha sido objeto de violencia tanto directa y estructural a partir de la masacre que tuvo lugar allí en 1997, así como la impunidad que ha persistido desde entonces. En respuesta a la violencia, la comunidad ha construido alternativas políticas, sociales y culturales a través del movimiento conocido como Organización Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal. Su reconstrucción del tejido social ha incluido la participación en asambleas, el voluntariado para el colectivo, el intercambio de experiencias, la producción de alimentos para subsistencia, una economía solidaria, y la sistematización e intercambio de experiencias.

The System is the Solution: Marx's Analysis of Capitalism

1986 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 13-13
Author(s):  
George Galster
Keyword(s):  
Production Process ◽  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Economic Base ◽  
Radical Theory ◽  
Labor Theory Of Value ◽  
Labor Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theory Of Value ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Pedagogic Device

The following note describes a skit designed primarily as a pedagogic device to illustrate in a meaningful (and, hopefully, provocative and humorous) way Marx's analysis of capitalism. Numerous concepts and phenomena are “brought to life” in the skit: exploitation, immiseration and alienation of workers, maintenance wage, labor theory of value, mechanization and the division of labor, systemic tendencies toward economic crises, relationship of various superstructural components (welfare, religion, etc.) to the economic base, and the radical theory of the state. More specifically, the economic base of a hypothetical capitalist society consists of a stylized production process involving “resources” (Oreo cookies), “labor” (students selected from the class) and eventually “capital” (table knives). The ability of the monopoly capitalist to accumulate surplus by exploiting workers becomes manifest. Other elements of the social superstructure (unions, government, religion, etc.)

Rīgas humānistu motīvs Roalda Dobrovenska romānā „Magnus, dāņu princis”

2021 ◽  
pp. 172-180
Author(s):  
Ausma Cimdiņa
Keyword(s):  
Life Story ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Human Society ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Russian State ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Role

The novel “Magnus, the Danish Prince” by the Russian diaspora in Latvia writer Roald Dobrovensky is seen as a specific example of a biographical and historical genre, which embodies the historical experience of different eras and nations in the confrontation of globalisation and national self-determination. At the heart of the novel are the Livonian War and the historical role and human destiny of Magnus (1540–1683) – the Danish prince of the Oldenburg dynasty, the first and the only king of Livonia. The motif of Riga’s humanists is seen both as one of the main ideological driving forces of the novel and as a marginal reflection in Magnus’s life story. Acknowledged historical sources have been used in the creation of the novel: Baltazar Rusov’s “Livonian Chronicle”; Nikolai Karamzin’s “History of the Russian State”; Alexander Janov’s “Russia: 1462–1584. The Beginning of the Tragedy. Notes of the Nature and Formation of Russian Statehood” etc. In connection with the concept of Riga humanists, another fictitious document created by the writer Dobrovensky himself is especially important, namely, the diary of Johann Birke – Magnus’s interpreter, a person with a double identity, “half-Latvian”, “half-German”. It is a message of an alternative to the well-known historical documents, which allows to turn the Livonian historical narrative in the direction of “letocentrism” and raises the issue of the ethnic identity of Riga’s humanists. Along with the deconstruction of the historically documented image of Livonian King Magnus, the thematic structure of the novel is dominated by identity aspects related to the Livonian historical narrative. Dobrovensky, with his novel, raises an important question – what does the medieval Livonia, Europe’s common intellectual heritage, mean for contemporary Latvia and the human society at large? Dobrovensky’s work is also a significant challenge in strengthening emotional ties with Livonia (which were weakened in the early stages of national historiography due to conflicts over the founding of nation-states).

scholarly journals A vital link: water and vegetation in the Anthropocene

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (10) ◽  
pp. 3841-3852 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Gerten
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Vegetation Dynamics ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Active Management ◽  
World Population ◽  
Water Limitation ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Co2 Effects ◽  
Water Vegetation

Abstract. This paper argues that the interplay of water, carbon and vegetation dynamics fundamentally links some global trends in the current and conceivable future Anthropocene, such as cropland expansion, freshwater use, and climate change and its impacts. Based on a review of recent literature including geographically explicit simulation studies with the process-based LPJmL global biosphere model, it demonstrates that the connectivity of water and vegetation dynamics is vital for water security, food security and (terrestrial) ecosystem dynamics alike. The water limitation of net primary production of both natural and agricultural plants – already pronounced in many regions – is shown to increase in many places under projected climate change, though this development is partially offset by water-saving direct CO2 effects. Natural vegetation can to some degree adapt dynamically to higher water limitation, but agricultural crops usually require some form of active management to overcome it – among them irrigation, soil conservation and eventually shifts of cropland to areas that are less water-limited due to more favourable climatic conditions. While crucial to secure food production for a growing world population, such human interventions in water–vegetation systems have, as also shown, repercussions on the water cycle. Indeed, land use changes are shown to be the second-most important influence on the terrestrial water balance in recent times. Furthermore, climate change (warming and precipitation changes) will in many regions increase irrigation demand and decrease water availability, impeding rainfed and irrigated food production (if not CO2 effects counterbalance this impact – which is unlikely at least in poorly managed systems). Drawing from these exemplary investigations, some research perspectives on how to further improve our knowledge of human–water–vegetation interactions in the Anthropocene are outlined.

The Social Background of Political Liberty in the Early Italian Renaissance

1960 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 440-451
Author(s):  
Hans Baron
Keyword(s):  
Social Background ◽  
Italian Renaissance ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
Economic Class ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Italian City ◽  
City States ◽  
Revolutionary Period

An attempt at a synopsis of Mr. Becker's and Mr. Hicks' findings requires an enlargement of focus. They have much in common in their approaches: both are sympathetic to reactions in Italian scholarship against a school which had conceived the history of the Italian city-states chiefly in terms of social clashes caused by antagonistic economic class interests. About 1900 that had been the perspective shared by most students. During the late 13th century (it was then argued), the half-chivalric magnati, owners of landed property, were replaced by the capitalistic merchants and industrialists of the arti maggiori; these, in turn, by the middle of the 14th century were followed by the artisans of the arti minori who, for a short revolutionary period in 1378, opened the door for the laborers of the great textile industries, the Ciompi. After class struggle had thus sapped the public spirit, Florence and other cities were ripe for the heavy, but pacifying hand of despotism.

Persistent Structures in a Turbulent World: The Division of Labor in the German Chemical Industry

10.1068/c9866 ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Bathelt
Keyword(s):  
Division Of Labor ◽  
Chemical Industry ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Customer Relations ◽  
Industrial Sector ◽  
Postal Survey ◽  
Spatial Proximity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Product And Process ◽  
Mode Of Development

Since the late 1980s, various scholars have concluded that a recovery from the Fordist crisis will require that rigid Fordist practices and structures in the industrial sector be replaced by flexible ones. The mode of development to follow, often referred to as a post-Fordist or after-Fordist mode, is often assumed to be characterized by flexibility in technologies, labor, and production processes. Aside from idealistic scenarios and limited empirical findings, relatively little is known about the product, process, and linkage structures which will lead to a new mode of development. The degree to which flexibility processes will be influential is also unclear. It is within this context that I try to provide new insights into the changing nature of industrial production and the social and technical division of labor, with the aid of results from a recent study of the German chemical industry (basic chemicals; pigments, dyes, paints, varnishes; and pharmaceuticals). Using a postal survey of 155 German chemical firms and 18 firm case studies, I investigate how firms have adjusted their product and process configurations and their supplier relations and customer relations to meet the changing technological, economic, and societal settings. According to my analysis, it seems unlikely that industrial development will follow a single growth trajectory towards flexibility. Increases in flexibility in products and processes are often only subordinate goals, or are not considered necessary. I describe how chemical firms benefit from spatial proximity to their supplier and customer bases. I also provide evidence that most firms rely on strategically important stable linkages within the short and middle distance.

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