Original link: http://headsalon.org/archives/8998.html
God’s New Pasture #2: The Rise of the Powerful
Whig
November 9, 2018
After the disintegration of egalitarianism, the world has been reopened for individual pursuit of achievement. As living things, human beings have always had self-interest motives, but there was a period when safety (including food and personal safety) became an overwhelming need, and individual interests had to pass through small groups. This collective partnership is pursued, and once the security conditions change, behavioral patterns begin to return to individualism.
But that didn’t bring us back to chimpanzee status, after all we’ve come so far down the evolutionary path of sociality, we’ve become so good at cooperation and alliances, we’ve got marriages and kinship systems, and, while the individual is no longer Forced to share everything, but the principle of reciprocity still regulates social behavior for a long time, so the re-opening of inter-individual competition will take place on a brand new stage, in which sets and props are unheard of for chimpanzees, and the performance of It’s amazing, and they can’t even imagine it.
Tyrants and Scumbags
The first to appear are some “big men” (Big Man), or local tyrants may be more appropriate, they do not have institutionalized power (authority), but have huge power (power), that is, with their ability, wealth and prestige Gain a higher status and influence in the group, and even attract a group of cronies and followers, so that they can dominate public affairs according to their wishes.
The key to the local tyrants acquiring this special status is the breaking of symmetry in reciprocal relationships; the balance of giving and receiving is the core principle of the reciprocity mechanism, either (in the individualistic version) to achieve balance in every pair of relationships, or (collectivism). version) The help given and received by each person is roughly equal, and this balance may not necessarily mean that the help actually given and received is completely equal in value, but reflects a social expectation that people expect those who receive help in the future (When the need arises or when he has spare resources) Make a return commensurate with the income.
The local tyrants, however, tip the balance. Their help is too generous for the recipient to reciprocate, or their contribution to the group is too great for others to match. This can take several forms:
1) He is very rich and always gives aid to the poor as soon as they need it, and the latter often cannot repay because of poverty, so he has accumulated a large amount of human debt, which allows him to be able to do some important things in the future, such as in his In the disputes he is involved in, in the public affairs he promotes, or when he competes for the chief position, he asks for support, cooperation or assistance from those who owe him favors; it is obvious that this is the case only when wealth can be accumulated in large quantities, and the rich and the poor have been significantly divided may appear when
2) The wealthy may also become the main donors of some public projects, or even the sole bearers, such as public sacrifices or celebrations, ceremonial buildings, roads, canals, defense facilities, banquets for honored guests, etc.; this ability naturally makes them Be the leader of public affairs, a similar situation is easily observed in contemporary civil associations and clubs, the wishes and orientations of the main sponsors are always respected, because they can withdraw sponsorship at any time to force the group to conform;
3) He is an outstanding organizer of collective action (hunting or war), if he loses his leadership, the group will be in trouble, or the war will fail (which may bring disaster to everyone), imagine a group of shipwrecked islands surviving of refugees, including a former SEAL trained in field survival, who will undoubtedly become a strong leader; in the pre-civilized Hobbes world, food and safety are more or less similar to disaster survival. The only difference is that under the strict constraints of natural selection, most adults in a simple society have similar hunting and warfare skills, but with the increasing complexity of weapon technology and warfare organizations, the differences between individuals will widen, so it is a hero’s skill. Standing out creates opportunities.
In societies where women are important or even major producers, the power brought about by wealth can be reinforced by polygamy, when polygamy actually becomes a means for the wealthy to invest surpluses in marriage to expand production, according to Trobri. Take the Melanesians engaged in horticultural agriculture in the Trobriand Islands as an example. The head of the village often has more than a dozen wives. One of them is a particularly exaggerated one who once had 40 wives. The sweet potato production of his extended family accounts for 30- 50%, while the vast majority of men have one or no wives, and a huge stock of sweet potatoes allows him to fund various large-scale events and thus wield enormous power. [1]
Clan is another power amplifier. If a local tyrant is also a patriarch or patriarch, he can successfully pool clan wealth and control its use rights, or can successfully persuade clan members to participate in collective actions organized by him (such as cattle stealing). attacks), support the public issues he promotes, and the authority that wealth or talent brings to him is multiplied; as long as the clan organization exists, this is not difficult to do, because the conditions that give him authority in the group, It also allows him to gain authority within the clan, and clan members will be more willing to accept this authority, after all, a leader from his own clan is more likely to get his own light.
It is not difficult to see that in the era of local tyrants, although equality has disintegrated, the norm of reciprocity (rather than coercive power) still dominates interpersonal relationships. Obedience, support, assistance, and following are used to restore balance; but often more than one person in the group has the potential to do so, thus triggering an escalating contest for gifts, common in small, settled societies of former tribes. [2]
The popular Moka exchange among the tribes of Mount Hagen in New Guinea is a famous example; like many cultures, Hagens present gifts to their hosts at feasting occasions such as weddings, funerals, births, etc. At this time, a local tyrant or aspiring to become a local tyrant may add a big gift in addition to the regular gift, the latter is a moka, and the recipient is expected to return the gift. If he can’t even do this, he has since become a Rubbish man who is despised and humiliated. [3] If he wants to maintain or win the status of local tyrants, he must add a gift in return, and then the first gift giver will add another gift in return. And so a moka competition of successive upgrades began, until one of them was defeated and shamed.
The most interesting thing about Moka custom is its relationship with war, from which we can see the nature of local tyrants’ power; in the past, the main way for Hagen local tyrants to gain power was to act as war leaders. Due to the large number of neighboring tribes, [4] there are complexities among each other. Alliance relationships, and dealing with these relationships requires prestige, skill, and wealth; the Hagens categorize their neighbors into three categories: rivals, hard-core allies, and those in between, with the third relationship changing the situation It is very subtle. There are conflicts between them from time to time, but it is usually limited to limited wars that are easy to compromise and make peace. After the armistice, compensation will be paid for the casualties caused to the other side. At the same time, when the friendly soldiers who assist the war are killed, the main battle party is also obliged. Pay pensions.
It is in these complexities that the resources of local tyrants come in handy. First of all, local tyrants are more capable of mobilizing allies to fight together, because it is not a strong collective obligation for alliance groups to support each other in war. The personal obligations brought about by , marriage bonds and gift exchange relationships are much stronger, so when war breaks out, the first among allies to come to help in the war is always those who have personal obligations to the main war local tyrants. Brothers, in-laws, and friends; sometimes the local tyrants even paid a lot of money to hire assassins to trap and kill key enemies.
Second, because they have the financial resources to pay war reparations and pensions on behalf of the group, they often dominate the negotiation of alliances and peace talks. The financial resources also allow them to intervene in disputes of other groups as mediators, such as when the disputing parties cannot reach an agreement on the amount of life compensation. When they agree, they will take the initiative to pay to make up the difference to quell the conflict, which will undoubtedly bring them higher prestige and power beyond the group.
Perhaps in order to express friendship, the payment of life compensation was also carried out in the form of gifts, so it became an opportunity to start moka competition. In fact, most mokas were initiated from this, so researchers believe that the reason why moka Contemporary times have become so popular and exaggerated, precisely because after the war was banned, the local tyrants lost their main means of competing for power, but disputes and conflicts would still occur, so they competed to settle disputes with large sums of money to appease, and let Moka become a success. a new arena of competition. [5]
Similar gift-giving competitions are also widely popular among Northwest Coast Indians in the form of potlatch, where local tyrants compete to distribute valuable gifts to guests. The difference is that the moka is a one-on-one duel, while the boast Rich banquets are more like gymnastics competitions scored by judges. It is no coincidence that it was only after European colonists suppressed the war that rich banquets became popular and frenzy, became the main means of status competition, and eventually developed into public. To the point of burning large piles of valuable items. [6]
chasing prestige
When the status of local tyrants gradually stabilized, their roles began to change to headman and chief. This is reflected in several aspects:
1) The ability to mobilize war resources and lead war affairs and alliance relations, so that they can choose the object and timing of war according to their own interests and needs, as well as whom to fight against and whom to ally with. When the neighbor is killed, he decides whether it is worthwhile to launch a revenge action for it according to his own wishes; [7]
2) This constitutes a deterrent that others dare not challenge its position or violate its interests, and also constitutes a coercive force that compels group members to follow his choice and accept its consequences;
3) Dominance over the war allows him to further expand his resource advantages, including loot and more wives;
The result of these changes is that, although they still regularly feast on guests and spread their wealth, their motivation is no longer reciprocity, but increasing their own prestige (prestige), and also to pay followers within the group. The traditional reciprocal relationship is still maintained in the communication with others of the same status outside the group.
Prestige chasing is a game strategy based on a collective belief self-fulfilling mechanism in power struggle: if you can manage to convince more people that you have more power than your competitors, you will attract more allies as a result And followers, the result really has more power, which in turn convinces more people that you do have more power, which in turn attracts more allies and followers… This cycle, you will eventually win overwhelmingly, Even if there is initially no significant power gap between you and your competitors.
This mechanism works because, when people have to choose sides, they tend to choose the side they believe will eventually win; of course, they do so on the premise that there is no mechanism for checks and balances of power and coexistence, so It is reasonable to expect that one party will eventually prevail and become the hegemon, and that he will probably settle accounts later in the autumn and attack those who have refused to support him; from historical experience, this is an easy premise to satisfy.
There are many ways to gain prestige. The following are some of the more prominent political functions:
Feasting turns banqueting into a recurring event that fulfills several political functions: a show of financial power; a show of generosity, which means that his support and service is expected to be well-rewarded; and it turns its hall into a center for public affairs Manipulate the hierarchical structure within the group through differential treatment; force people to say whether they accept the hierarchical order that the host has identified through the seating arrangement: if you attend a banquet and enjoy wine and meat, it means that at least This order is tacitly accepted. On the contrary, if you refuse to attend, or refuse to sit in the seat arranged by the host, your objection will be made public.
Banquets were also used to entertain distinguished guests from other groups, turning the host’s hall into a regional social hub beyond the group, allowing the host to dominate foreign affairs and bringing him prestige on a larger scale.
Because of these functions, feasting was widely prevalent in pre-state hierarchical societies, [8] and was closely associated with patronage as the main political platform of early regimes; contrasting with another tradition may help us understand this, in Many political organizations have begun to develop (in order to coordinate collective action) but have maintained small egalitarian societies, with what anthropologists call men’s houses, usually only those who have passed the rite of passage. Only qualified warriors were allowed to enter, and public activities were mainly carried out there, including sacrifices, rites of passage, and collective deliberation. However, with the emergence of hierarchies and real leaders, the man’s house disappeared, and the temple became the main ceremonial place, while the political activities The center of gravity shifted to the chief’s hall and banquet. [9]
The competition for prestige between the chiefs often reaches the point of extreme extravagance. The giant cakes and champagne towers at modern weddings are quite luxurious, but they are nothing in the eyes of the Maori chiefs. They are feasting. Wooden pagodas more than 30 meters high were often erected, and food and gifts were stacked on top of each other. In 1862, more than 7,000 pigs were killed at the grand banquet of a Tonga chief; [10] The tradition of banquets continued into the early days. In the country, the king of Mycenae regularly held large banquets. Thousands of people gathered on the slope between the palace and the beach, arranged their seats according to their status, and enjoyed a huge amount of wine and meat. [11]
Large-scale engineering projects in engineering organizations can show a leader’s ability to mobilize human resources and resources on a large scale. In the era of local tyrants when the principle of reciprocity is still in place, he may choose infrastructure such as roads, aqueducts, and dams that benefit the group. Once established, and the focus of the competition turned to the power struggle between the tyrannical oligarchs, those that were tall and eye-catching, attracted people’s attention, admiration and awe, and were best associated with some kind of sacred ceremony, such as temples, idols, high Stele giant column, or like the pyramid-shaped large earthen platform in Central America.
The main points of gaining prestige with engineering are the difficulty and workload. Among the hundreds of moai statues on Easter Island, the largest ones are 10 meters high and weigh more than 80 tons (an unfinished statue weighs 270 tons). ), must be moved several miles before erection, and hundreds of people need to be dispatched to carry it, which is almost equivalent to all the adult males of the entire tribe (Easter Islanders organize society by clan). product of competition for prestige. [12]
The activity of moving and erecting megaliths was very popular in ancient times, especially in Neolithic Western Europe, and this may be an easy challenge to think of, where more than 50,000 such samples have been found, [13] A megalith in Brittany It is 20 meters high and weighs 330 tons; [14] The famous Stonehenge in Wessex weighs tens of tons each, and most of them are shipped from dozens of kilometers away. Among them, the 82 large bluestones in the third phase are from It was shipped from Wales, 210 kilometers away, and some boulders were used as beams on other mantles, which made the difficulty higher; in addition to the giant mantles and Stonehenge, there were also megalithic tombs, which were similar in popularity. [15]
These arduous projects are obviously of little practical value, and some even have no aesthetic and ceremonial considerations, just like Bitcoin mining, they are pure proof of work; Assam’s Angami Naga ( The leader of Angami Naga has many ways to gain his reputation, including headhunting attacks and lavish banquets, but the highest reputation comes from moving stones. The initiators need to mobilize men of the tribe to drag tens of tons of boulders from dozens of kilometers away. He would spend 12 bulls, 8 pigs and rice wine made from thousands of kilograms of rice to host a feast for them. [16]
Booty Displaying important spoils of war in conspicuous places is another common practice to enhance prestige. In later inter-state wars, popular martial arts souvenirs were ritual objects such as enemy flags, crowns, scepters, etc., such as Edward After I conquered Scotland, the Stone of Scone, a symbol of the Scottish crown, was brought back to Westminster to be used as the seat of his throne, but in the early days, the body parts of the enemies were more favoured as souvenirs.
In areas where the custom of headhunting prevails, people often hang the heads of the hunted heads in conspicuous places at the entrance of the village, or in ceremonial places, such as men’s houses or public longhouses (longhouses). [17] Maori warriors like to put the heads of recently won enemies. It can be hung on both sides of the canoe; [18] When the degree of social organization increases, the scale of war expands, and there are too many people to hang it, it can also be piled up into skull mountains, built into skull walls, or strung into Central American skull racks (Tzompantli ); [19] For mobile groups, carrying a bunch of skeletons is too cumbersome, but can be made into drinking vessels like the Scythians; [20] The most portable form is tattoo, Igolo Special men are only eligible to have a specific pattern on their chest after they have successfully hunted a head, [21] similar to the skull pattern in the large set of tattoo patterns of the Russian Mafia. [twenty two]
The most creative in this regard were the Americans, who cut off the scalp or ears of the enemy, tanned and strung them on guards of honor, or used them to decorate their uniforms and saddles, [23] using enemy teeth, knuckle bones, or nails The last knuckles or even the dried fingers are made into necklaces, the jawbone with the entire set of teeth is made into pendants, the two heavenly caps are sewed together to make a bell, and the entire head is removed from the bones and used similar The technique of mummification makes jerky. [twenty four]
The motive for the collection and display of loot is firstly to boast of martial arts and let people know how many successful battles one has a record. In the era of lack of public media and historians, this may be the only credible and high-visibility advertising method, and secondly, it also has shock and deterrence. The meaning of potential enemy is to build a reputation for being belligerent, fierce, cruel, and fearful, making it easy for others to not provoke, and also warning partners to be careful of the consequences of betrayal.
If a distant leader wants to show his status and power, he must make friends from afar. He cannot just hang out with members of his own group all day long. Having a group of distant friends can convey multiple messages at the same time: I have an extensive network of relationships, and when necessary I can look for support from it; if many of these distant friends are also local tyrants or leaders, then the fact that I call them brothers confirms my high status; these distant friends will give me better information and trade opportunities, thus enhancing my power. .
Based on such motives, the leaders of the early hierarchical society showed several tendencies: 1) generous and hospitable, often setting aside many rooms in their mansions to stay guests, some of which may become long-term guests; 2) enthusiastic patronage or sponsorship of wandering entertainers, Bards, traveling craftsmen, long-distance traders and other traveling professionals, these people not only bring entertainment, services and goods, but also more valuable knowledge and intelligence; 3) They are full of interest in exotic customs and imported products.
In terms of marriage, the leaders are more inclined to exogamy, because according to their own status they are trying to prove, there is no suitable relative in the group, and they can only find someone of equal status outside the group, and the higher the status, the farther the marriage partner; The Yanomami people organize their society by patrilineal clan, living from the husband, but not strictly out-married, it is not uncommon for cousins to marry (although cousin marriage is their ideal model), one of the reasons is that girls are reluctant to marry out , Because Yanomami’s husband is particularly tyrannical, he can only restrain himself when his in-laws are present. However, the Yanomami leader always tends to marry his daughter to the outer village leader. [25]
By arranging political marriage to establish a broad network of upper-level in-laws, the effect is similar to that of making distant friends, but the relationship is stronger and the obligation of mutual assistance is stronger. If the marriage alliance lasts for a long time, it can even be stronger than the clan, because blood ties inevitably follow. estranged by generational change, in-laws are constantly refreshed by the continuous cousin marriage between the two families.
The development of the upper-level relationship network is a key step in class differentiation. People of different status begin to form their own circles of intermarriage and communication, and develop consumption habits, entertainment interests, communication etiquette, and behavioral norms within their respective circles, and finally form different subcultures. , so that the distinction between classes has become increasingly clear, and the class gap has become more and more difficult to bridge.
Rare and rare treasures can first of all show the owner’s financial resources, but its prestige function is far more than that. It can at least prove that he has extensive and accessible long-distance trade relations, because rare treasures are often imported products from afar. This type of trade relationship is important for building power because, unlike modern mature markets, early merchants traded with only a few long-term customers out of security and trust, and what was worth long-distance traffic was also expensive and could be bought. The number of people who can start is limited, so the ability to establish long-distance trade relations is itself a testament to power.
In many cases, the acquisition of certain strategic materials from long-distance trade constituted an important power base for the chief. The Germanic warriors of the Danish Bronze Age rose to chiefs because of their control of the copper trade, which came from Britain, Ireland and Central Europe. , used to make bronze weapons as an alternative to flint, and their main export, amber, was a prestige goods favored in the Mediterranean world far from the Baltic amber-producing regions; [26] Similarly, the Mayan aristocracy To control the obsidian trade to enhance their power, most of the obsidian they import comes from four or five hundred kilometers away, and some high-yield quarries are more than one thousand kilometers away in the central highlands of Mexico. [27]
Another function of rare objects is to use knowledge contests, and knowledgeable knowledge is a kind of evidence for the upper-level relationship network. Imagine a local tyrant boasting at a banquet that he has not seen rare things or tasted delicacies. , At this time, the most powerful counter-attack method of the other local tyrant who is competing for the limelight is to take out something that the other party has never seen before, can’t tell the name and origin, and does not know how to play and appreciate it, and at the same time is interesting enough .
The competition of knowledge is naturally not limited to tangible objects, exotic customs, novel entertainment, and new games can all become the focus of competition. In a society with more complex cultures, art and elegant knowledge must be added; Travel trade, luxury consumption, and art flourished, and they continued in all classes of society. Although the patterns were constantly refurbished, the basic motives never changed, and people in today’s world should not be unfamiliar with this.
Sugar Daddy When there is an unquestionably dominant culture around, a special relationship with that culture is another way to gain prestige, because getting help (whether military, financial, or technical) from the dominant culture will give you a big boost. The likelihood that a leader will prevail in a power race is an asymmetric version of the upper-level network of relationships, sometimes overwhelming.
The Kachin people in northern Myanmar work on wandering farming in the highlands, and the Shan people live on rice in the adjacent lowlands. The monarch is called Saopha; [28] The head of a Kachin village is called duwa, who has the power to ask for tribute from the mountain people under his jurisdiction, such as a hind leg for every pig killed. That’s why they are also called leg-eater duwa.
However, the status of the Kachin Duwas is very unstable, and they often lose power and return the society to anarchy. The Shan people call Pa to be married, at least to marry a noble woman from the Shan State. Facts have shown that this method is very effective. Several powerful duwas in modern times have established their positions by concluding marriage alliances with the Shan nobles. [29]
When the British Empire was at its height, the leaders of many small social classes were proud of their British spirit. In 1810, after the Hawaiian chief Kamehameha I (Kamehameha I) unified Hawaii to establish a kingdom, he sent a British red boat. The Red Ensign is used as the national flag, and the Union Jack remains to this day in the upper left corner of the Hawaii state flag, just like the Australian and New Zealand flags, although Hawaii and the United Kingdom have never had any affiliation. [30]
The Chief of Tonga, George Topou I, was baptized as a Christian in 1831 during the ongoing Tonga War of Unification, and took the name of George after the King George III he knew, and Tonga was also not affiliated with the United Kingdom at the time (Tonga did not become a British protectorate until 1900, but it remained self-governing). [31]
The fiercest competition for prestige often occurs when the local tyrants compete for monopoly power and become chieftains, the chieftains of neighboring villages try to control each other and rise to chiefs, and then chiefs compete for hegemony and create a chiefdom (chiefdom) process. But once the dust settles, the strong wins, power is consolidated, and the enthusiasm for the competition begins to cool, because for the leader who has established a multi-level power structure and his position is difficult to shake, this kind of performance is not so necessary, it loses most of its goals. Spectators, because in the eyes of the general public, there is no longer an object to compare power and power, and they no longer have the option of taking sides. The prestige competition will continue, but it will no longer be in the form of a public carnival as before. carried out, and more often took place in the circles of the elite and in the private halls of the chiefs.
One of the ways that Hawaiian chiefs built their prestige was to build a kind of sanctuary called a heiau, the main body of which was a large platform made of stone, which was very labor-intensive, the larger ones costing tens of thousands of dollars. By analyzing the labor-time distribution of these projects, archaeologists found that the construction of Haiiao on Maui experienced an explosive growth in the 15th century, with annual input of labor-days rising by two orders of magnitude, while At this time, the chiefs of the island were frequently fighting for the dominion of the whole island. Once the victory was decided, the chiefdom was established, and the engineering boom began to subside. [32]
Birth of Inheritance
Status differentiation and the rise of powerful figures did not directly lead to the generation of classes. The persistence of class structure requires the inheritance of power and status. If most of the powerful and powerful people in each generation come from ordinary families, the culture will not be differentiated with the level of status. It will always be a local tyrant and not a nobleman.
However, inheritance is not easy to achieve. Let’s look at wealth first. Although private property rights are usually accompanied by a certain degree of inheritability from the moment of birth, in an era when the legacy of reciprocity norms still exists, a large part of the financial resources of the chief is owned by others. Obligations owed to him by kinship or alliance, which cannot be passed on, such as the fortune of the headman of Trobriand, partly produced by his many wives, and partly by the wife’s family, which is customarily harvested on a quarterly basis Under this custom, the sweet potato presented later will take advantage of a person as long as he has more wives than sisters, but this advantage cannot be passed on to the next generation. [33]
Similarly, when Hagen local tyrants participated in the moka competition, most of the gifts were not from the pre-hoarding of their family, but were temporarily collected from clan members, who were obliged to assist according to customs, so the leader The more prosperous the clan, the more powerful he is. Of course, his children can inherit this advantage, but it is the whole clan who share this advantage, and the children of the head man may not still be the head man. [34]
Moreover, the early wealthy spent a lot of financial resources on gift-giving competitions and prestige competitions, leaving too much wealth for their offspring. In addition, they often have many children due to polygamy, and each person is allocated much less. In fact, it can be understood in this way. : They tend to cash in power directly and quickly into the current genetic benefits, and do not think much about how to pass on the position of power to future generations. If the probability of successful inheritance is highly uncertain, then choosing such a short-term strategy is reasonable.
Looking at status, the leadership of early leaders was largely derived from their personal endowments, including strong physique, knowledge and experience, charisma, trustworthiness, generosity, eloquence, etc.; [35] Although these endowments are to a considerable extent acceptable. Genetic, [36] but environmental or accidental factors such as disease, infection, accident, and early experience also play a large role, and if only the father is considered, the genetic influence is greatly reduced, so although the sons of the chieftain compete for the chief There are many advantages in status (including family power, number of relatives, father’s support, inheritance from father’s endowment), but it is far from certain and reliable.
These factors hindering the inheritance of power are mutually reinforcing: the more difficult it is to pass on wealth, the more the local tyrants are keen on gift-giving competitions and rich feasts; Efforts to keep power within their lineage for a long time make succession more difficult to achieve.
However, inheritance rights still appeared and stabilized after all. The key to breaking through the above obstacles is the development of the upper-level relationship network. When an alliance of in-laws is built between neighbors and dignitaries through continuous intermarriage, a new game pattern is created: in which All parties hope that friendly status can be passed on stably in their families, otherwise the ally resources they have accumulated through multi-generational political marriages may be destroyed.
This way, when a leader dies, his chosen son’s odds of succeeding the throne are greatly improved, because it is hoped that his successor father will help him arrange a political marriage early in the day to secure an allied leader in future succession contests Support and strong intervention when necessary, these leaders are often the father-in-law, brother-in-law, grandfather, uncle, uncle, brother-in-law, or cousin of the successor, and they are not only obligated to them by kinship, but also may themselves Benefit from their succession, which is why customs always tend to recognize the first-born sons of the first wife from a powerful family as the preferred heir, because the first wife often comes from the right family, and their sons are expected to receive more support from their maternal relatives.
Similar but different situations also occur within the group. In order to consolidate his family status, the leader often marrys a family with a higher power in the group, or takes his daughter as his concubine, or for his children of lower status (such as the second child). sons or second daughters) to arrange marriages with these families, or to recruit young men of good endowments but of lower backgrounds as sons-in-law or adopted sons, who may not necessarily support his chosen heir, but at least tend to keep the headship in the his family because they all have a vested interest in this.
Early leaders (especially those rising by force) often have a group of cronies (retinues) to strengthen and exert their power. Based on the same principle, these followers will also tend to continue their positions in the leader’s lineage, otherwise they will Looking for another owner to defect, the result is completely unknown whether it is good or bad.
In short, when a leader places his position in a networked power structure, in which the position of the majority of the powerful depends on the existence of the structure, the inheritance rights become solid and safe, because in a multi-party game, it is necessary to re-establish A similar equilibrium is extremely difficult, so the vested interests of the system are reluctant to break it. Although they still have interests and intrigue, they will not easily tear their faces and overturn the table.
It’s like an intricate system of international treaties. Once collapsed, all parties have to renegotiate compromises, find allies, and re-establish allegiance. These are not easy tasks, and the results are unpredictable; many times, even your enemies want him He will be faced with a group of old rivals, so that he can continue to play the old tricks he has already mastered in a familiar framework; of course there will still be usurpers from time to time, but the appearance of the word “usurper” itself shows that a kind of power. The bit inheritance specification has quietly taken shape.
Notes: (Please refer to ” References ” for the cited literature)
[1] Bronisllaw Malinowski (1922) Voyagers of the Western Pacific, pp.55-60, the author refers to these headmen as chiefs, but from the specific description of their power, they are closer to Big Man than strictly Chief above.
[2] Kent Flannery & Joyce Marcus (2012) ch.6.
[3] Scumbags are not only disqualified from being respected, but are often killed as scapegoats in poisoning cases with unknown murderers, see Brian Hayden (2014) The Power of Feasts , ch.7.
[4] The term tribe is used in both broad and narrow senses. The broad sense refers to a highly homogeneous linguistic/cultural group, whether or not there is any political structure linking it together, while the narrow sense requires the existence of such (at least two level) political structure, in this book I usually use the narrower sense, e.g. “pre-tribal” which refers to a state that lacks a secondary political structure, but this section is an exception, which will only be cited in the material only appears.
[5] Andrew Strathern (1971) The Rope of Moka , ch.4-10.
[6] Wikipeida: potlatch; Kent Flannery & Joyce Marcus (2012) pp.55-56.
[7] Andrew Strathern (1971) ch.4.
[8] Brian Hayden (2014) ch.7.
[9] Kent Flannery & Joyce Marcus (2012) ch.7,8,12.
[10] Martin Jones (2008) Feast , ch.8.
[11] Brian Hayden (2014) pp.245-251.
[12] Jared Diamond (2005) Collapse , ch.2; Wikipedia: Moai.
[13] Wikipedia: Menhir.
[14] Wikipedia: Locmariaquer megaliths.
[15] Jane McIntosh (2006) In Search of Prehistoric European Civilization, Chapter 7; Wikipedia: Stonehenge.
[16] Kent Flannery & Joyce Marcus (2012) ch.6.
[17] Albert Jenks (1905) ch.3; Kent Flannery & Joyce Marcus (2012) ch.7.
[18] Richard J. Chacon & David H. Dye (2007.ed) The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians , p.17.
[19] Wikipedia: Tzompantli.
[20] Wikipedia: Skull cup.
[21] Albert Jenks (1905) ch.6.
[22] Wikipedia: Russian criminal tattoos.
[23] George B. Grinnell (1915)
[24] Richard J. Chacon & David H. Dye (2007ed) .
[25] Napoleon Chagnon (2013) ch.2,8.
[26] Timothy K. Earle (1997) How Chiefs Come to Power , pp.18-33.
[27] Bruce G. Trigger (2003) 第246-257页；Raymond Sidrys, “Mass Distance Measures for the Maya Obsidian Trade”, in Timothy K. Earle & Jon Ericson (1977.ed) Exchange Systems in Prehistory .
[28] Wikipedia: Shan States.
[29] Edmund R. Leach (1954) 《缅甸高地诸政治体系》，第5，7章；克钦族和掸族在中国境内的同族者分别被称为景颇族和傣族。
[30] Wikipedia: Flag of Hawaii.
[31] Wikipedia: George Tupou I.
[32] Timothy K. Earle (1997) pp.169-184.
[33] Bronisllaw Malinowski (1922) 第2章。
[34] Andrew Strathern (1971) ch.9-10.
[35] Christopher von Rueden et al., “Leadership in an Egalitarian Society,” in Human Nature , Dec 2014, Volume 25, Issue 4, pp.538-566.
[36] Robert Plomin (2018) Blueprint.
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