GRG 305 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Dominick Fernow, Jack Goody, Gerontology Research Group
Document Summary
Lecture- media and communication: role of record keeping. Early urbanism is associated with record keeping of various kinds. This permitted the extension of control through space and time. Prior to writing, words are always fleeting events rather than durable objects. 1: writing fixes the word making it durable. Detached from the here", now" and i" of its production (coulmas 1989, 13) Its portability depends on the nature of the surface on which it is fixed. Made it possible for the leadership to regulate the amount of goods to be contributed by the community and to enforce their delivery. Writing, therefore, bestowed on the ruler effective control over the input of assets [and] the redistribution of these commodities writing was the backbone of the economy of redistribution--an economy that brought prosperity to sumer (schmandt-besserat 1996, 105) 2: more effective long-distance communication = distanciation.
