In/Equality: An Alternative Anthropology

268 Pages·2021·2.892 MB·English

by  Pem Davidson Buck

IN/EQUALIT Y
AN ALTERNATIVE ANTHROPOLOGY

Fifth Edition
PEM DAVIDSON BUCK
ISBN: 978-1-56226-697-4 © 2021, 2020, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2009, CAT Publishing Inc. Palo
Cedro, CA
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. For informa-
tion, address CAT Publishing Inc., 10793 Northgate Drive Palo Cedro, CA 96073.
www.catpublishing.com,or [email protected].
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost I thank my students. Without them this book would not exist, both in the
obvious sense that without them there would be no point in writing it, but more importantly
in the sense that they made me want to write it and have left their footprints all over it. This
book takes the shape it does because it reflects what I have found to work in helping them
see the world through a new pair of glasses. It reflects equally what I have learned from
them over the last twenty-five years about the world in which they and I live. And, of
course, it reflects their boredom with the variety of big glossy texts I initially felt obliged to
subject them to. Their (relatively!) passive resistance led me to write the initial little booklet
from which this book grew.
Secondly, my own teachers have left their footprints all over this book. Faye V. Har-
rison, Fred Hicks, and Ed Segal introduced me at the University of Louisville to a form of
cultural anthropology that I found fascinating—not the rather functionalist and androcen-
tric version to which I had been exposed as an undergraduate. Their influence made me as
impatient with the glossy texts as were my students. Faye Harrison then shepherded me
through the initial years of my career as an anthropologist, and has been an enduring source
of support ever since.
My thanks go also to the Association of Black Anthropologists, which over many
years has provided me with an intellectual home and has been the source of tremendous
stimulation. In particular, the several ‘Teaching as Praxis’ sessions held irregularly over the
years at annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association, often sponsored or
co-sponsored by the Association of Black Anthropologists, provided me both as organizer
and as participant with the opportunity to work with others on some of the knottier issues of
teaching about inequality in its various forms.
Irma McClaurin, many years ago, gave me a much needed validation of the original
booklet that I had written specifically for my own classes. Many years later she was sec-
onded by Walter Matherly, who accidentally spent some time in my college’s bookstore
while he was traveling around the country tracing his genealogical roots; he picked up and
read that booklet, and encouraged me to take it seriously, as more than just a booklet for my
own classes.
I owe particular thanks to people who read and commented on various editions of
the book: David Aliaga, James Gardiner, Faye V. Harrison, Derrick Hodge, Antoinette Jack-
son, Yvonne Jones, Ann Kingsolver, Vin Lyon-Callo, Enoch Page, Naomi Palagi, Warren
Perry, Boone Shear, and Arthur Spears. Not only did the book undergo many changes as a
result of their comments, but they also provided much needed support and intellectual stim-
ulation, for which I am deeply grateful.
Janet Henderson was a wonderfully resourceful work study student, particularly in
her ability to locate web materials—and she did a lot of typing, despite being bored to tears
by the job! Joella Spataro, then secretary for the Social and Behavioral Science Division, of
which I am a member, did the original formatting of the booklet and presided over several
of its revisions. Elizabethtown Community and Technical College granted a sabbatical for
the 2006-2007 academic year, during which the major portion of the first edition was written.
The College also underwrote my annual trips to the American Anthropological Association
Meetings. In 2015 I was granted Professor Emerita, giving me continued access to the college
library and to interlibrary loan and other resources, as well as continued use of my office—
in short, a lifeline for scholarship in rural Kentucky.
The American Anthropological Association’s online collection of teaching resources,
particularly those on COVID-19 and the anthropology of pandemics, has been immensely
helpful as I was pulling together research for this 5th edition. Leslie and James Golden, at
CAT Publishing, have been truly supportive, including even suggesting that, given the
gravity of issues arising during the spring of 2020, it would be appropriate to address those
issues immediately in an enhanced version of the 4th edition, to precede this 5th edition.
They have, as well, been a pleasure to work with through the whole editing and publishing
process.
And finally, there is David Buck, an excellent critic and editor, always ready for a
good discussion of the issues I was grappling with as I wrote, and an indefatigable advocate
for my work when I hit those discouraging moments when I no longer believe in it. There
would be no book without him.
To the Instructor
In/Equality is written with flexibility in mind. Each chapter is written so that it can stand
alone or, with the exception of the first, be taught in any order. An instructor might prefer to
assign Chapter Two toward the end of the semester, for instance. Alternatively, CAT Pub-
lishing will bind individual chapters or combination of chapters to meet the instructor’s
requirements; syllabi can also be included. For more details on this possibility please use
this link to the CAT Publishing website: https://www.catpublishing.com/chapters.html.
Marginal links are provided on many pages of In/Equality, enabling students to
access online materials related to the issues under discussion in the text. Materials in the
links include news items, brief articles, scholarly and journalistic opinion pieces, and web-
sites of organizations.  Some video material is also included, but given the uncertainly of
online copyright issues, most are simply suggested, without a direct link.  In/Equality is
available as an online digital book, which enables students to click on the links to go directly
to these sites.  It continues to be available in hard copy as well.  Students who have the hard
copy version can go to http://www.catpublishing.com/PDF/links.pdf on the CAT Publish-
ing website, where there is a downloadable PDF file containing the links, making it possible
for them to click on the links, rather than having to type out the URLs.  It is hoped that stu-
dents will ignore ads and other pop-ups that are associated with some of these
sites.  Although materials have been chosen with the likelihood of their longevity in mind
and were functional at the time of publication, unfortunately, given the ephemeral nature of
some online material, there can be no guarantee that all links will still be available by the
time students try to access them.  It is hoped that instructors will find that these online mate-
rials provide flexibility and depth to the use of the text.
As an online book In/Equality is accessible to students for six months through the
internet.  During that time it is also fully printable, should the student so desire.  Individual
students may choose to purchase the online version through RedShelf at  http://www.red-
shelf.com.
iv
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements iii
Chapter 1:
A New Pair of Glasses .........................................................................................................................1
How Do You Know If It’s Anthropology?........................................................................................ 2
Some Thoughts about Being Human................................................................................................. 6
Another Thought About Culture............................................................................................... 10
How Do You Know If What You Are Reading Is True?............................................................... 11
Where Do These Conflicts Over the ‘Truth’ Come From?............................................................ 14
Double Vision............................................................................................................................... 16
The Perspective of This Book............................................................................................................ 18
Decolonized Anthropology........................................................................................................ 19
Engaged and Activist Anthropology........................................................................................ 22
Talking of Rights................................................................................................................................. 24
A Word of Warning............................................................................................................................ 25
Consoling Advice................................................................................................................................ 27
The Rest of the Book........................................................................................................................... 28
References/Suggested Reading........................................................................................................ 29
Chapter 2:
Imperialism, Colonialism, and Neocolonialism ..........................................................................31
Expropriation of Value from Other Places and ‘Other’ People within the State....................... 32
Expansionism............................................................................................................................... 32
Importation of Labor................................................................................................................... 36
Internal Colonialism.................................................................................................................... 37
Expropriation of Value from Other Societies and ‘Other’ People Outside the State................ 40
Empires Based on Tribute........................................................................................................... 41
Capitalist Empires........................................................................................................................ 42
Colonialism......................................................................................................................42
Settler Colonies................................................................................................................43
External Colonies.............................................................................................................46
Creating a Cheap Labor Force.........................................................................................48
Imperialism without empire: Neocolonialism......................................................................... 50
Neocolonialism: Developing dependent development....................................................52
Instruments of Outside Control........................................................................................53
Resisting Imperialism......................................................................................................................... 58
Accommodating Imperialism............................................................................................................ 61
Religion.......................................................................................................................................... 61
Family, Household, and Gender Roles..................................................................................... 62
Gender Inequality........................................................................................................................ 63
Race and Ethnicity....................................................................................................................... 64
Recap..................................................................................................................................................... 66
References/Suggested Readings....................................................................................................... 67
Chapter 3:
Principles Underlying Equality: The Communal Mode Of Production .................................69
What It Means To Be Egalitarian...................................................................................................... 72
Communal Mode of Production....................................................................................................... 73
The Economic System: Who Works, Who Gets....................................................................... 76
The Political System: Decision-Making and Rights................................................................ 81
The Role of Religion..................................................................................................................... 83
Egalitarian Societies and the Motivation to Work.................................................................. 84
The Egalitarian Bottom Line....................................................................................................... 85
v
Indigenous Peoples Embedded in States......................................................................................... 86
RECAP.................................................................................................................................................. 91
References/Suggested Readings....................................................................................................... 92
Chapter 4:
Principles Underlying Inequality: The Tributary and the Capitalist Mode of Production 93
Summarizing Equality and Inequality in Different Types of Societies................................ 94
Types of Ranked Societies: Chiefdoms and Kingdoms.......................................................... 94
Diagram 1: Differences in types of human social organization..............................................95
Modes of Production: Tributary and Capitalist....................................................................... 98
Feudalism.........................................................................................................................99
Types of States: Kingdoms and Rank, Republics and Class................................................ 101
Subsistence Strategy and System of Exchange in States....................................................... 103
The Justification of Inequality in Ranked Societies...................................................................... 105
War, Theft, and Slavery............................................................................................................. 106
“Failed States”............................................................................................................................ 110
Climate Change................................................................................................................................. 111
Recap................................................................................................................................................... 116
References/Suggested Readings..................................................................................................... 117
Chapter 5:
Factoring In Gender .........................................................................................................................119
The Question of Gender................................................................................................................... 119
The Question of Marriage................................................................................................................ 122
Marriage Types........................................................................................................................... 127
Gender Equality and Inequality...................................................................................................... 128
Gender Equality.......................................................................................................................... 128
Mild Gender Inequality............................................................................................................. 130
Denying Rights: Gender Inequality and Marriage in Ranked Societies............................ 132
States: Family and Gender........................................................................................................ 135
Gender Inequality in States....................................................................................................... 138
The MeToo Movement, Race, and Patriarchy...............................................................142
Gender, War, and Disaster.............................................................................................143
Looking Ahead: Patriarchy.............................................................................................................. 144
References/Suggested Readings..................................................................................................... 145
Chapter 6:
Factoring In Race, Caste, And Class .............................................................................................147
Diagram 2: Basic Organization of a Stratified Society.........................................................148
Caste.................................................................................................................................................... 149
Class..................................................................................................................................................... 151
Class as a Factor for Producing Inequality............................................................................. 152
Diagram 3: Class Structure in a Capitalist Society..............................................................153
Race as a Factor for Creating Inequality........................................................................................ 155
Stratification and Super-Exploitation............................................................................................. 157
Production and Labor in States....................................................................................................... 160
Agriculture.....................................................................................................................162
Providing a Huge Labor Supply for Non-Mechanized Agriculture...............................163
Industrial and Mechanized Agriculture..........................................................................167
Industrial Production......................................................................................................169
Pandemics and Inequality................................................................................................................ 172
The Anthropology of Pandemics....................................................................................174
The Obvious Question...................................................................................................................... 178
References/Suggested Reading...................................................................................................... 179
vi
Chapter 7:
Maintaining Stratification ..............................................................................................................183
Ideology.............................................................................................................................................. 185
Maintaining Stratification through Ideology: Patriarchy and the Gender Factor (again)...... 188
Maintaining Stratification through Ideology: Inventing Race to Divide and Rule................. 190
Inventing Race in the U.S.......................................................................................................... 191
Maintaining Stratification through Force...................................................................................... 198
Religion and the Maintenance of Stratification............................................................................ 201
Religion in Support of Stratification........................................................................................ 202
Religion Fighting the Denial of Rights.................................................................................... 206
Resistance and Revolt Despite It All.............................................................................................. 207
The Struggle for Undocumented and Immigrant...........................................................207
The Struggle for Indigenous Sovereignty......................................................................208
The Struggle for Racial Justice......................................................................................209
RECAP: A Long History.................................................................................................................. 213
References/Suggested Reading...................................................................................................... 214
Chapter 8:
Globalization: The Return of Empire ..........................................................................................217
Loss of national autonomy............................................................................................................... 221
Resisting Global Empire................................................................................................................... 222
Conclusion: Seeing through Different Glasses............................................................................. 228
References/Suggested Readings..................................................................................................... 229
Glossary 231
Index 249
vii

CHAPTER 1
A NEW PAIR OF GLASSES
The object of this book is to give you a framework for thinking
and learning about other societies and about your own—about
learning to see in a very new way, through a different, and I hope
clearer, pair of glasses. It is about an anthropological understand-
ing of the world, particularly the world of societies like our own,
where some people have far more power and wealth than others.
It is not a standard textbook: it does not try to introduce you to
anthropology as an academic subject with a certain body of
knowledge about certain topics, which anyone who has ‘taken’
anthropology ‘ought’ to know. Instead it uses anthropology to
Anthropology1
introduce you to that new pair of glasses.
The study of humans, past
The glasses this book constructs are those of a particular
and present. Cultural
anthropology focuses on tradition within anthropology, growing out of the recurring argu-
how people in various ments anthropologists have had about what anthropology is,
parts of the world organize what its purpose is, and even about whom anthropologists should
and govern themselves,
study. Sometime during the 1980s some of us began to discuss the
and the meanings they
ways in which anthropology should be ‘decolonized.’ More
create as they deal with the
world they live in. recently, a number of anthropologists have been talking about
‘engaged’ or ‘activist’ anthropology. And more recently still, some
anthropologists have been discussing how anthropology might be
• Want more? Try
a useful tool in understanding how colonized countries, including
exploring American
the United States, could be 'decolonized.' This book grows out of
Anthropological Association
these traditions. It uses the glasses of those traditions in trying to
http://
www.americananthro.org see what is important about how social structures work, for our-
/ selves and for people all around the world.
Bear in mind that not all anthropologists take this
approach, although some have always done so. This approach has
gained greater acceptance over the past twenty-five or so years,
Note to the student: You however. More anthropologists are taking a critical look not only
are encouraged to at anthropology itself, but also at the way many human societies,
download a PDF including our own, are organized to produce inequality both at
document that contains
home and in their relationships with other societies. Also bear in
active links to the websites
mind that what you see as you begin to look at the world through
referenced in this textbook
this new pair of glasses may frequently contradict, or at least give
and to visit the websites as
a part of your studies for a different perspective on, what you are told on the evening news
this course. To download or on news channels. This is because a decolonized or engaged
the PDF document go to: anthropology takes seriously the views and knowledge of people
www.catpublishing.com/
experiencing exploitation and is often written by members of such
PDF/links.pdf
groups. That is why we can’t assume that the people we ‘study’
know less about the system in which they live than we do.
1. Words in bold are defined in the glossary. There is more about the glossary and the words anthropologists use in
the section “Consoling Advice” starting on page 27
• Want more? Try In fact, we can’t even assume we really understand our
exploring International own system. Ideally we have different areas of knowledge and
Union of Anthropological expertise and ways of understanding and by working together
and Ethnological Sciences
our types of knowledge complement each other. Together we can
https://
understand more than we do separately. In fact, a few anthropo-
www.waunet.org/iuaes/
about/ logical organizations bring anthropologists from all over the
world together to share insights and work collaboratively—a
huge change from the days when most people with degrees in
anthropology couldn’t imagine seeing the people they studied as
equals, even if they did care deeply about them.
Global South Anthropologists from the Global South2 are studying and
A term which is used in writing about their own societies and about the Global North, and
place of terms such as third developing theories about how the differences came to exist and
World, which has negative
continue to exist even as the world becomes more interconnected.
implications.*
All these approaches, decolonized, engaged, activist, collabora-
Global North tive, assume that people who are being exploited or who are
A term which is used in members of societies that have been colonized have something to
place of terms such as First say that people in all parts of the world need to hear and learn
World, which has positive
from. Anthropological knowledge is more valid as a result, and
implications.*
consequently it will be of greater use to people fighting oppres-
sion.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF IT’S ANTHROPOLOGY?
But first, some basics about anthropology. Almost anything about
being human is fair game, in one way or another, for anthropol-
ogy. Anthropology tries to understand how and why people live
as they do all over the world.
According to one ‘joke,’ anthropologists study dark-
Elite
In a system of skinned people and sociologists study light-skinned people. There
relationships based on has been some truth to that joke. However, it is more accurate to
inequality, the elite are the say that until recently most cultural anthropology, the subject of
people who directly
this book, has studied the societies of people who have been colo-
benefit from inequality
nized or exploited, while sociology most often focuses on the peo-
and control the lives and
ple who live in the colonizing countries but are exploited by the
labor of those who suffer
from inequality.* elites of their own country. Both sociology and anthropology con-
nect with history, and all three are concerned with related histori-
cal processes. Recent changes in the three disciplines have
brought them closer in method and content.
Holism
Holism has been one of the major differences between cul-
An important aspect of
anthropological method tural anthropology and the other social sciences, including most
and perspective. In a sociology. It is the goal of much anthropology, even though it is
holistic approach the actually impossible to achieve, to understand a society or a partic-
anthropologist is
ular group within a larger society by looking at all aspects of the
attempting to understand
society. In attempting to be holistic your goal is to study the soci-
the society as a whole,
ety as a whole, rather than just particular aspects of it, such as its
rather than just particular
aspects of it, such as its economy. You are placing the particular issues that interest you in
economy.* a broad context. Some history and sociology is also holistic,
2. When there is an asterisk at the end of a margin definition, as there is with this and other terms, see the glossary
for the full definition.
2 Chapter 1 A New Pair of Glasses