sábado, 24 de marzo de 2012

Kinship and social organization

Kinship and social organization One of the major discoveries of the anthropology of the 19th century has been that kinship relations are the main core of social organization in all societies. In many of them, the most important social groups including clans and lineages. When belonging to such corporations of kinship is assigned to people only through the male line, the system is called agnatic descent (see Patrilinaje). Prior to the development of trade and urbanization on a large scale, many European peoples were organized from the point of view of economic and political as groups of patrilineal filiation.

Matrilineal societies where kinship is transmitted by female line (see Matrilineality), are less common today. Herodotus was the first scholar to describe this type of social system, which detected among the inhabitants of Lycia in Asia minor.

The Organization of bilateral kinship, which takes into account the paternal and the maternal side, is pervasive in most simple hunter-gatherer societies (such as the towns san in southern Africa or the Arctic and subarctic regions inuit). The British anthropologist Stephen Robert Briffault defended a related concept, Matriarchy, and stated that this type of social organization was latent in much of more primary societies.

In societies based on kinship, the members of a lineage, clan or other related groups are descendants of a common ancestor. This concept is a unifying factor, since it gives great masses of individuals of certain cohesion to confront warlike activities or rituals, which makes them feel different from their neighbors and enemies. For example, between the hordes of Central European societies for centuries attacked, or the Aztecs or Mexica of the American continent, the complex military organisation relied on patrilineal kinship.

The evolution of the socio-political systems


Human societies which, in principle, more simple are groups of hunter-gatherers such as the inuit, san, Pygmies and Aboriginal Australians. These peoples are collected, a small number of families to form bands or nomadic groups of 30 to 100 individuals, related by kinship and associated with a specific territory.

Survivors groups of hunter-gatherers (in areas of Africa, India and Philippines) allow us to know the State of the social and cultural organization of almost all historical experience of humanity. Relationships of kinship, religious ideas, health methods and cultural characteristics not only illustrate the cultural roots of modern humanity, but we have to scale and are easier to analyze. The culture of hunter-gatherers that still exist show adaptations that are necessary to survive in hostile and inhospitable environments.

Social and economic systems of greater complexity not emerged until did the favourable conditions that underpinned societies first settle in stable and permanent communities throughout the year. Then came the crucial progress in agriculture and animal husbandry.

The Neolithic transition - i.e., the beginnings of the acclimatization of food resources - occurred independently in the Middle East and East Asia some 12,000 years ago, according to the latest archaeological evidence. With large concentrations of population and permanent settlements emerged socio-political organizations which Interlocked to different local groups. New local systems, which often included groups of individuals from isolated communities, were United in celebration of religious ceremonies, the exchange of food and cultural traits.

Although the smaller groups lacked, in many cases, a central Government, the increase of the population and food sources created the need for and the feasibility of political centralization. The heads represent social systems on a small scale, in which food and political compliance converge in a central leader, or head, which in turn he redistributes food and is respected by members of the community.[1]

The origins of the nation-States have been the subject of great controversy. In the ancient Near East, for example, the first City-States appeared when the increase in population led to a greater demand for food, facilitated by the development of irrigated crops to meet her. This led to the expansion of military systems that protect these resources. In other cases, the location in strategic trade routes - for example, Timbuktu in the Saharan trade of salt - route favored the military and administrative centralization.

Ethnological and archaeological studies support the thesis that States or kingdoms were born slightly differently in different historical and ecological situations; However, present almost everywhere the same development schemes. In his first moments of existence, States express a universal trend to annexing the neighboring regions, to exploit them economically and bring its potential enemies. In the earliest urban civilizations - in the Middle, Egypt, the India North, Southeast Asia, China, Mexico and Peru - soon appeared the fortifications military, usually accompanied by temples and religious rituals that demonstrating the rise and greater power of the priesthood. However, social stratification, with a small minority militar-religiosa and a large population of subordinate of peasants, was inevitable consequence.

ToNIMALES in the human community Since men appeared on Earth, have lived in close association with other animals. During most of this time humans were hunters and gatherers that depended on wild animals to eat and dress. In addition, they were also a source of aesthetic pleasure and spiritual force in animal life around them. The evidence of this is in the extraordinary paintings that are in the South of France and North Spain, carried out by men from the Paleolithic. The religious practices of the natives of North America including the veneration of certain animals such as the bear, the Wolf and the Eagle, in an attempt to acquire the strength, wisdom, courage and the speed they attributed these animals.

Human societies have continued exhibiting some of these relationships. The aesthetic interest in animals is expressed in the mosaics and frescoes of the old Greece, Rome and Egypt, the paintings of the masters of the Renaissance and countless works by newer artists. The mystical feelings towards animals are reflected in myths and folktales, moralistic Fables and stories for children, as well as the adoption of their names for cars, sports teams and others.

Despite the great development of the technology, agriculture and the domestication of many species, modern man still relies to feed on the reservations of certain animals in the wild, such as fish and shellfish. However, uncontrolled commercial exploitation has greatly reduced these resources and has led to some species on the brink of extinction. .

When humans moved from being hunters to be farmers, they changed the relationships between humans and animals. Animals fed on livestock or destroyed harvests were reduced or exterminated, and the alteration of the environment eliminated the habitats of many other species. However, when humans were concentrated in cities, some animals, such as rats, multiplied and became important carriers of diseases.

Humans domesticated animals to feed, dress, work, and as pets (see animal husbandry); (Pets). How it happened is a controversial issue. Through the protection and selective breeding human beings transformed the first animals domesticated in races more productive, as it is the case of cattle, sheep and poultry. Also contribute to human well-being the dogs, cats, white rats and mice, the guinea pigs and monkeys that medical research has been used to increase knowledge of human physiology and to develop drugs and procedures to combat diseases of the human species.
However, as our species continues to spread throughout the land, invades and pollutes the environments of many animals by reducing the remaining habitat areas increasingly under. Unless this trend is reversed, the greater part of the animal life is facing extinction.




Original Sin embargo, conforme nuestra especie continúa extendiéndose por la Tierra, invade y contamina los ambientes de muchos animales reduciendo los hábitats restantes a zonas cada vez menores.

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario