HISTORY 207 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Quran, Social Inequality, Caste System In India
8 Mar 2016
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Have commonalities because: before theravada, christianity, islam arrived, there was a common cultural tradition, small disperse populations throughout sea. Meant people was the scarce resource & not land. Social and political life revolved around controlling man (not land) power. Rank according to very clearly defined status gradation of which the king provided the central reference. (rate themselves according to closeness with king). Idea of equal citizen was completely unknown to the citizens (everyone has same right in front of law): paradoxically very well integrated. The high and the low, the powerful and weak felt part of a single community. No tension between the classes: chief instrument of social integration was patron-client ties. Personal bond between patron (the superior) and client (inferior). Gave much state & society much cohesion and also much of its weaknesses: political org highly personalized, dependent on fluid personal relations=> political was extremely unstable. Laws, institutions, impersonal procedures accounted for very little.
