ANT 3101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Imperial Cult, Nekhen, Standing Army
Document Summary
Social inequality: differential access to resources and opportunity. Institutionalized inequality refers to hereditary status differences (ascribed status) Models for the emergence of institutionalized social inequality: ownership of good agricultural land, control/management of water, warfare, control of craft production and trade, competitive generosity, religious specialists and control of esoteric knowledge. Status systems in cheifdoms and states: ascribed status based on differential access to resources, chiefdoms differential access based on kinship, states: clearer class divisions, based on occupation, wealth, etc, kinship ties do not across classes. Characteristics of states: lots of more specialization, urbanism (specialization + large population, lots of monumental architecture, single ruler (formal position, beaucratic apparatus, tratified, (cid:862)(cid:272)lass-(cid:271)ased(cid:863) so(cid:272)iety, standing, professional military (coercive leadership) Primary state formation: no previous states (emerged) Conflict models: state legitimized emerging classes and resolves conflicts inherent in social inequality. Ancient egypt: unification of chiefdoms (upper and lower, agricultural (nile, highly centralized political system, highly dispersed population.
