Page 484 - Cultures and Organizations

The Evolution of Cultures 449

Social Stratifi cation

Stratum is the Latin word for “layer.” Stratification is the process of creat-

ing different classes in society, usually two at first. In growing villages,
there will have been an increasing need for coordination, along with simple
social stratification of the kind that one observes in other apes, based on a

combination of physical force and personal liking. Cities needed to create
ascribed authority for their leaders based on their role, or the social orga-
nization would collapse and another city, or bands of plunderers, might
destroy the city. This need must have driven the growth of acceptance of
ascribed authority among the majority of the population.
City-states fought and acquired prisoners, who could be put to use.
From the beginning of life in states, slavery has been an obvious form of
two-class social stratifi cation. One might say that the ruling classes were
keeping people in the same way that they were keeping cattle and crops.
There is actually biological evidence to support the idea that the ruling
few had domesticated the numerous masses: average brain size in humans
has fallen since the arrival of agriculture, as it has done in domesticated
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animals. So, life in large-scale agricultural societies not only enabled our
ancestors to extract a much larger part of the earth’s energy to fulfi ll their
needs but also induced vast cultural changes. Feelings of awe for leaders
who were distant figures, residing in a different sphere of life and with

immense power, were new in our evolution. Large power distance is one of
the adaptations to life in a large, anonymous society that was made possible
by agriculture. This was more so in the temperate climates in which cities
and states came to bloom than in colder areas; in the latter, climatic condi-
tions would not allow agriculture to be quite so successful, and population
levels would remain much lower for many centuries, with the result that the
common fi ght against the forces of nature would be the primary concern.

So, society would remain egalitarian in those areas.
Cultural Legitimation
Cultural legitimation of acts was not a new phenomenon when societies
expanded, but it took on new forms because anonymity had to be coped

with. Cultural legitimation of the group was never difficult as long as
groups were limited to a few hundred people. To distinguish group mem-
bers from others, human beings had counted on individual recognition
for millennia. A state-level society with so many citizens that they could