Wednesday 14 December 2011

Aristocrat Tribal Societies

The change from tribal society to aristocrat peasant society probably happened quite slowly in a long evolutionary process that is not very well understood by historians. It is not necessary to speculate about the details of that transition, but it is important to note that in many areas of the world, the change was never fully completed.

Aristocrat peasant society is specifically designed to distribute substantial agricultural surpluses from peasant-farmers to specialized workers and non-food producers of the society. There are many parts of the world where agriculture and animal husbandry can be used, but the land is not fertile enough to produce a large surplus. This is especially common in mountainous and semi-arid environments. In many of these areas tribal leaders evolved to acquire the titles and status of aristocrats, but they could not hope to accumulate large agricultural surpluses from the people they ruled.

This kind of society sometimes has the outward appearance of being an aristocrat peasant society, but in reality the common people have not been reduced to peasant status and are not compelled to deliver large amounts of food to their political leaders. This means that the common people retain a great deal of personal freedom and independence. These people fully realize that they have much more freedom than the peasants in neighboring societies and are determined to defend it. Most of the men carry weapons most of the time. This group contains quite a large number of different people. It includes Albanians, Kurds, Chechens, Berbers, Druse, many of the Arab countries, Afghans, a number of groups in Central Asia, Tibetans, Mongols, Gurkhas, and a number of Hill Tribes in Southeast Asia. The Scottish Highlanders were a member of this group before they were destroyed in the 18th century.

Most of these people lived in mountains, deserts, and difficult hill country where it was just not possible to produce a reliable food surplus. They were tough, well armed, and sometimes envious of the wealth that was produced by their more prosperous neighbors. It used to be common for many of them to raid their neighbors for food, women, and moveable wealth. It was a very macho form of society that admired physical toughness and ability with weapons. These aristocrat tribal societies seem to have a high level of resistance to the transition into modern nation-states.

No comments:

Post a Comment