Evolution of Culture

Sign up to take the Evolution of Culture Course, which has to do with the real meaning of “the political.”  The political is not what most people think the political concerns.  This series of lessons are extremely important because the political involves an understanding of how cultures have become diverse and more complex over long periods of time.  When population numbers increase, social management becomes more and more necessary.  In this context, we see how cultures have not only become diverse, but how they have evolved over time to be complex parts of the many puzzle pieces that make up the Global Villages of today’s world.

Human beings have always been on the move, and they continue to be on the move, ever faster and faster with the help of technology on the one hand, and wars, disasters, diseases, and a variety of disruptions on the other hand.

Students may be surprised to learn that political or “the political” is not always political, as they might understand it.  Early peoples lived in bands, which were small groups of people, living in egalitarian societies, with very little regulation except for seasonal necessities.

Ancient peoples were not ruled by a clock or a set of deadlines.  Only nature set their time. Their subsistence practices (making a living) depended upon reaching the next ripe fruit and/or watching for animal behaviors and migrations.

The four lessons in this educational journey illustrate how culture has evolved from small band societies to large, over-populated state societies.

Evolution of Culture Topics

Lesson topics for this series are:

1. Bands, and “the Political” – Lesson 1

2. Tribes – Lesson 2

3. Chiefdoms – Lesson 3

4. States, State Societies – Lesson 4

Please sign up to learn how organizational and social management became necessary; and how social organizations came to be political, but not as we think of “the political” today.