ARTH 3002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Gerhard Lenski, Hunter-Gatherer, Slide Rule
19 Dec 2016
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Lecture 10 — Tuesday October
11, 2016
Article by Francois Nielson “the Ecological-Evolutionary Typology of Human Societies and the
Evolution of Social Inequality”, from Socialogical Theory 22:2, June 2004 292-303
Studies the work of Gerhard Lenski. Lenski developed the ecological evolutionary typology of
human societies.
The typology has two dimensions —
evolutionary (concerned with technological advancement)
ecological (concerned with environmental variation)
Evolutionary dimension:
“The overall efficiency of the subsistence technology of a society — each level in the evolution
is marked by the adoption of one crucial technological innovation.” — Lenski
“Each new innovation that marks passage to a more advanced level presupposes all the earlier
innovations” — Lenski
So, if you go from hunter gatherer, to farmer, to a society with a plough, the society with a
plough presupposes the domestication of the plough, so they basically build on themselves.
Where plow cultivation is feasible:
1) Hunting and gathering societies — 8000BCE
2) Simple horticultural societies (farming with simple tools)
3) Advances horticulture societies (like copper and bronze metallurgy)
4) Simple agrarian societies (plow culture) — 3000BCE
5) Advanced agrarian societies (iron metallurgy)
6) Industrial societies (machines powered by inanimate focus of energy) — 1750CE
The Evolutionary dimensions looks at historical patterns in societies that could have plow
agriculture.
Ecological dimension:
Herding: societies which subsist by herding livestock in environments where plant cultivation is
not practical
Fishing: societies which subsist by fishing in an environment with easy access to suitable water
bodies
Maritime: societies which use their proximity to large bodies of water to derive subsistence from
maritime trade.
Lenski goes into great pains to argue that the ecological dimension is not based on progress.
There are two mechanisms of sociocultural evolutions:
— Intrasocietal selection (a new cultural element is adopted OR old cultural element is
discarded), like a slide rule being replaced by a calculator.
Document Summary
Article by francois nielson the ecological-evolutionary typology of human societies and the. Evolution of social inequality , from socialogical theory 22:2, june 2004 292-303. Lenski developed the ecological evolutionary typology of human societies. The typology has two dimensions evolutionary (concerned with technological advancement) ecological (concerned with environmental variation) The overall ef ciency of the subsistence technology of a society each level in the evolution is marked by the adoption of one crucial technological innovation. lenski. Each new innovation that marks passage to a more advanced level presupposes all the earlier innovations lenski. So, if you go from hunter gatherer, to farmer, to a society with a plough, the society with a plough presupposes the domestication of the plough, so they basically build on themselves. Where plow cultivation is feasible: hunting and gathering societies 8000bce, simple horticultural societies (farming with simple tools, advances horticulture societies (like copper and bronze metallurgy, simple agrarian societies (plow culture) 3000bce, advanced agrarian societies (iron metallurgy)
