Cultural Evolutionthe gradual development of something from a simple to a more complex form; in nature the process by which different organisms develop and diversify from earlier forms during the history of the earth; Darwin's theory of natural selection seeks to explain the process of evolution of all organisms
Introduction
Sign up to take the Cultural Evolution and “The Political” 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 is essential because political involves an understanding of how cultures have evolved and become diverse and more complex over long periods. 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 become 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 technologythe system by which a society provides its members with things needed or desired, along with knowledge for the use and maintenance of the system More on the one hand, and wars, disasters, diseases, and a variety of disruptions on the other hand.
You may be surprised to learn that “the political” is not always political, as you may have understood it in the past. Early peoples lived in bands, which were small groups of people, living in egalitarianegalitarian does not mean "equal," rather it means equal access to resources for survival societies, with very little regulation except for seasonal necessities. (See the Subsistencea method whereby humans are able to continue their existence; condition of being able to stay alive; practices that maintain survival Practices course in the directory.)
Ancient peoples were not ruled by a clock or a set of deadlines. Only naturethe phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans and or human creations set their time. Their subsistence practices (making a living) depended upon reaching the next ripe fruit and/or watching for animal behaviors and animal migrations.
The four lessons in this educational journey illustrate how cultureculture is not genetically inherited, it is shared, learned, and dynamic- never static has evolved from small bandthe smallest and least complex political organization, usually found among hunter-gatherer populations; a band is egalitarian, kin-related, has little bureaucracy, and numbers from a dozen to a few dozen people societies to large, over-populated urban and statea state is an independent political entity with a centralized government and set geographical boundaries where control is exercised by police or military; a state claims the right to defend itself from both internal and external threats by use of force; a state may have many villages and cities and/or millions or billions of people as in China and India societies.