SOC203H1 Lecture Notes - Rank, The Communist Manifesto, Bad Life
Document Summary
Social goods - things that are valued: some are universal (good health, some are culturally bound (leisure time, wealth, status, power) Consistently, suicide rates would be higher/lower in different parts of the world: some main sources of inequality, military strength. Hunter gatherer: class less, no strong differences in control over means of production. Not patriarchal: gender equality, political equality, economic equality, marxist: they have little surplus; live close to subsistence level; with surplus there is a possibility that some can live without working. Started to generate surplus which means that now certain groups of people can live better while working less. Ancient egypt, rome, china: significant agricultural surplus, produced or extracted, specialized classes of rulers, reliance on bureaucracy, slavery with poorer life choices, large standing army; always available, systems of taxation, run by bureaucrats. Women in high power families were relatively powerful. Women were always subordinate to the male in confucius households.
