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Bruce Trigger And Carneiro: The Rise Of State-Level Society

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In 10,000 BC, the initial developments of cultivation and agriculture made their way into society through the people of the Jordan Valley in Israel, initially allowing the community to provide a greater abundance of resources to their people. At the time, the domestication of plants and animals was the most revolutionary concept that enabled further communities to provide for greater populations. These population growths led to the development of occupational specialization and class structure, ultimately forcing communities into a higher form of power, what we know of today, as the rise of the state. The rise of the state- level society has been questioned through intellectual theories developed by scholars such as Bruce Trigger and his coercive …show more content…

Trigger focuses his whole argument on coercion, coming from parents, teachers, or any adult of higher power than they’re suppressor, lacking the ability to truly create a functioning society. This total obedience trip would cause outbreak among the people in a community. Trigger states “The result was the replacement within all social classes and most social groups, including the nuclear and extended family of a relatively egalitarian model of human relations by an explicit hierarchal one.” (Trigger, 55) Trigger feels obedience by any authoritative figure will benefit the community, but he has no other backbone to support his thoughts and theory. Carneiro highlights coercion throughout his theory, but pinpoints specific ideas that include other aspects of life which lead to the rise of the state. With a lack of specific arguments and unclear formations, Trigger himself does not accurately describe the rise of the state. While coercion itself plays a huge part in development, it is not the sole rider of the rise of the state. Carneiro continues to grow his ideas by bringing in the aspect of geographical location and social structure as primary essentials to a civilized …show more content…

Carneiro keeps an open mind, enabling his theories to connect with other people’s ideas, and allowing a broader sense of realization of how to reach a state level society. Anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan disagreed with this idea, and followed a unilinear path on his theory towards the rise of the state. Morgan focuses on the idea of his three ethnical periods, consisting of, Savagery, Barbarism, and Civilization. Morgan felt that these three periods of time account for the rise of a civilized society everywhere. (Morgan, 1909) Morgan’s thoughts follow an order developed through technological advancements, in which are inevitable throughout time. Morgan writes in his “Ancient Society” article, “…it seems equally so that these three distinct conditions are connected with each other in a natural as well as necessary sequence of progress.” (Morgan, 3) Morgan is referring to his three ethnical periods here. Morgan points out the need for technological development in the growth of societies, a very important aspect that has led us to where we are today. However, Morgan does so in a straight- minded way. Morgan lacks creativity in his theory and only focuses on one straight path towards the rise of the state. While savagery, barbarism, and civilization likely occurred in ancient history, there was no straight shot to a state level society.

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