Soci326-002 – Evolutionary Sociology

Module 11 – Socio-cultural Evolution I – Discussion Topics – 8 Nov 2005

Today's discussion is based on the following readings:

• Chapter 1 -- Up to the Starting Line -- Pp. 35-52 [Note: in Figure 1.1 p. 37 Diamond dates the diaspora from Africa at 1,000,000 BC, which is the estimated date at which Homo Erectus left Africa; diaspora by modern humans is much later, ca. 100,000-50,000 BC.]
• Chapter 4 -- Farmer Power -- Pp. 85-92
• Chapter 5 -- History's Haves and Have-Nots -- Pp. 93-103
• Chapter 10 -- Spacious Skies and tilted Axes -- Pp. 176-191
• Chapter 12 -- Blueprints & Borrowed Letters -- Pp. 215-238
• Chapter 14 -- From Egalitarianism to Kleptocracy -- Pp. 265-292
• Chapter 17 -- Speedboat to Polynesia -- Pp. 334-353
• Chapter 19 -- How Africa Became Black -- Pp. 376-401

Topics for discussion:

1.  In Guns, Germs, and Steel what is "Yali's Question"?  In a nutshell, what's the answer to Yali's question?  (Repeated from Module 10 of last week.)

2.  On p. 103 Diamond writes "In short, only a few areas of the world developed food production independently, and they did so at widely differing times. [...] The peoples of areas with a head start on food production thereby gained a head start on the path leading toward guns, germs, and steel.  The result was a long series of collisions between the haves and the have-nots of history."  Why is the asymmetric emergence of food production so important in explaining later population movements in  history?

3.  How convincing is Diamond's geographical argument of Chapter 10 "Spacious Skies and Tilted Axes" (see Figure 10.1 p. 177)?  Is is possible that later developments of history owe so much to geographical circumstances?  What extra-scientific (i.e., moral, philosophical) motivation does Diamond have for emphasizing geographical determinism?

4.  Concerning Chapter 12.  Alphabetic writing may have originated only once in human history, namely among speakers of West-Semitic languages in Canaan.  The alphabet would have then diffused by blue-print copying or idea diffusion to other societies.  One explanation for this pattern (of unique or rare original invention followed by diffusion to other societies) is the idea of "preemption".  In this view the development of a writing system (including an alphabet) is a long and difficult process which took place independently in only one of a few societies.  Thus independent  development of a writing system was preempted in many societies by the adoption (often with modification) of a writing system developed elsewhere.  What might be general implications of the preemption mechanism for cultural diffusion and socio-cultural evolution in general.

5.  Chapter 14 "From Egalitarianism To Kleptocracy" may be the most "sociological" chapter in Diamond's book, as it looks at a typology of human societies and compares social characteristics of the different types (see Table 14.1 pp. 268-269).  How satisfying is Diamond's classification for understanding similarities and differences among different kinds of societies?  (Note: what does "kleptocracy" mean?)

6.  How have the (distant or more recent) ancestors of each person in the class been affected (if at all) by a major demic expansion due to the uneven emergence of food production in different parts of the world?

7.  Archaeologist Colin Renfrew has used the term emerging synthesis to describe the emerging understanding of human evolution and early history based on the convergence of genetic, linguistic, archaeological, paleo-botanical, etc. data.  Do sociologists have anything to do with this enterprise?  If yes, what is it?

Exhibit:  Figure at entry "alphabet" of American Heritage Dictionary. 

Last modified 8 Nov 2005