On Thu, 8 May 2003, Luke Weiger wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gail Brock" <gbrock_dca at yahoo.com>
> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 4:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Re: woj and America
>
>
> > Most humans appear to be quite hierarchical
>
> So do most apes--thus I draw the inference that social hiearchies are almost
> certainly manifestations of particular genetic traits.
>
> -- Luke
>
Sorry, I gotta put up an empirical roadblock here. First, the degree of social stratification and hierarchy varies dramatically in human societies, ranging from minimal in hunting and gathering societies to severe in agrarian societies (ancient Egypt). You're confusing the social structure you're used to with what humans are capable of creating.
Second, the prevalence of social hierarchies among primates vary dramatically across species and environmental conditions. Just as with humans, the key to survival in many primate groups is cooperation, not domination and control of others.
Given the plasticity of social arrangements in many primates, including us, I think it's a little silly to make strong statements about the genetic basis of any individual or social characteristics. At best, genetics could predispose individuals to certain behaviors, but social hierarchies can only exist if there are social mechanisms for establishing and maintaining power. Thus if genetic research discovers the gene cluster for "domination"-- which I doubt--we still can't understand social hierarchies without analyzing the social scaffolding that makes it possible for a person to act on their genetic dispositions.
Miles