How Stratified Societies Can Positively Influence Our Economy

The evolution of societal constructs has greatly changed throughout human history to support each society's quality of life. Starting with small egalitarian bands and adapting into farming based redistributive stratified societies has greatly changed human civilization. Stratified societies began to rise and dominate to develop our current strata. Stratified farming societies conquered the world and are a necessity to our rapidly growing economy. The more complex our economy becomes, the more stratified it will have to be in order to remain as successful as it has in the past. Stratified societies have conquered the world which has been necessary for modern societies to survive proven by the most powerful ones like the United States.

The complexity and strong structure of stratified societies created more power and helped develop technologies to obtain control over others.Diamond's answer for Yali, the native New Guinean, about why white men have so much cargo, helped explain how stratified societies triumph over the world. For the most part, "all humans on Earth fed themselves exclusively by hunting wild animals and gathering wild plants" (Diamond, 1997, 86). Diamond argued that a village with only hunters and gatherers was successful in terms of survival, but there would need to be animals to hunt and plants to gather consistently. The successful hunter gatherer societies were the ones that were dealt a favorable hand. The hunter gatherers living in more fertile locations had advantages that others did not. Sahlins' article similarly explains how cultures with plentiful resources could grow economic structure and have more satisfying living environments. He says, "An affluent society is one in which all the people's material wants are easily satisfied." (Sahlins 1974, 1). He added, Bushmen "...had no sense of possession." (Sahlins 1974, 12). Therefore, Bushmen would not have 'wants' let alone anything that would make them superior to others. The Bushmen believed living was their dominant priority. The economic strategy of farming and dividing labor responsibilities easily surpassed the hunter gatherer societies.Raising animals and growing crops were a much more reliable way of supporting a civilization.Consequences of raising animals were "infectious diseases like smallpox, measles, and flu" (Diamond 1997, 92). When immune and native people "who had no previous exposure to the germs met, epidemics resulted in...over 99 percent of the population was killed" (Diamond 1997, 92). If planned properly, the consistency and quantity of food surplus would give the civilization more opportunities to expand their economy.One of the reasons why there was not urgency to expand for the New Guinean people was simply because they did not have a sense of potential luxuries that would enhance their quality of life. Even if the average hunter and gatherer worked for a few hours each day, they would not fulfill any desires beyond surviving. Once a few technologies were invented and effective, the society had demands that needed supply. In order for these needs to be met, members of the society needed to produce luxury items. The more complex the economies structure becomes as more technologies are demanded, the more stratified it will need to become.

Almost all modern societies need groups that do not produce and still receive a portion of surplus in order to remain powerful, organized and growsteadily.Students, children, babies, people with disabilities, and more cannot produce necessities for others yet they are stillessential to society. Caring for others, growing a larger population, and teaching the next generation are all vital to having a successful and prosperous society. Diamond realizes this, and agrees that those who are unable to work can still contribute in other ways or might contribute in the future. In order to protect the next generation, Diamond writes "Goods in excess of an individual’s needs must betransferred from the individual to the centralized authority, which then redistributes goods to the individuals with deficits" (Diamond 1997, 287). Diamond argues that the individuals that are able, and do not contribute, can convince the hard working and productive members of society that they are also contributing through management, organization, etc. Managers, kings, and lords do not directly contribute to production, but they indirectly help organize those that do contribute to support the society as a whole. The leader's actions of guidance cause peasants to support their society more effectively. In addition, Diamond mentions the link between "the spreads of government and of religion" (Diamond 1999, 266). The constructs that government and religion implement on society are in place to remain successful and powerful. Since the governmental and religious leaders create rules and guidelines for the masses, they have a lot of power. Even if the leaders themselves are not directly affecting the society's production, they take a portion of the surplus produced as reciprocation for their work organizing others. Diamond argues that the elite have complete control over the masses that actually do the necessary work to survive, but the elite provide constructs necessary for a functional society. The masses might feel like the elite get more than they deserve, but the infrastructure that the elite create is supposed to help the masses improve their quality of life. Unfortunately, the elite tend to protect themselves with safeguards within the infrastructure created when society is not functioning to its full potential or need.In addition, the elite have too much power and 'wants' are available that separate privileged individuals from the masses. The more successful stratified societies are the ones that have enough infrastructures to be efficient and productive, where the elite can lead the masses, although the masses can still have access to luxuries that the elite obtain. When the elite use a hereditary system, a heavy influence of remaining a higher class than society is vital. Democratic governments share common goals with the society and better represent all of the contributors to that society. Leaders should either be elite because of their actions of supporting the society, or due to the masses wanting an individual to represent their society. Whether the elite are elected or appointed, their role is to create economic structure that supports everyone. On the other hand, Diamond explains how the elite can "function unabashedly as kleptocracies, transferring net wealth from commoners to upper classes" (Diamond 1997, 276). For modern economies, stratification is necessary due to market complexity and theimperativeness of power.

Our current strata must encompass certain means of distribution to support the social surplus as well as seek new technologies to grow for thefuture. One of the best examples of a stratified economy that has been successful has been the United States economy. The United States has recently been the most secure, trusted, and growing economies. Historically, the U.S. economy has evolved from focusing on natural resources like farming to technologies in electronics. The rapid growth of our economy has primarily been successful from a strong beginning in natural resources. Creating reliable food surpluses resulted in large amounts of excess and unused food stuffs to be saved and available for protectionin case we have unexpected variables. Diamond uses this concept to explain the transition from egalitarian societies to redistributive ones. Having a well constructed economic model creates more opportunities to strive when there are still problems faced. It also gives us an opportunity to focus on other endeavors that could potentially support the whole population. Therefore, with predicted promise for higher expected farming rates, our economy can flourish. The idea of chiefdoms and states that Diamond mentions can help describe the social structure of our strata. Since our market is so large, and our surplus is plenty, the need for stratification is fundamental to our economic stability and growth. Our division of labor's complexity and success shows the importance of having hierarchical systems to help organize industries.

The success of our capitalist society has resulted in many individuals and companies profiting greatly while others have been defeated and suffer. Competition and dominant power is natural, although the individual members of society rely on the achievements of their industries. Stratification creates many opportunities to have a higher quality of life, although it can lead others to failure. In America, financial classes are very prevalent where the elite are capable of buying power and the poor can be trapped with few opportunities to grow. National and state government provides support for poor citizens with taxes paid by the higher classes.The safety nets that our political systems instill give opportunities to underprivileged citizens in order to become more successful and wealthy. Although, our tax based political programs do not support classes equally, there are at least prospects for a higher quality of life where other economic systems do not.

Early societies created small egalitarianbandsso all of the members of the band could survive. Farming changed the egalitarian societies to redistributivestratified societies. Stratified societies began to rise and dominate our current strata.Stratified farming societies conquered the world and are a necessityto our economy. The more complex our economy becomes with increased commodities to trade, the more stratified it will have to become in order to remain as successfulas it has been historically.