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Ecological-Evolutionary Theory

Ecological-Evolutionary Theory. Who gets what and why?. Part I. Overview. An aside…. “Theory” and “stratification theory” What should a theory of stratification do ? Explanation vs. prediction Emphasis on the question: “Who gets what and why?”. Key features.

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Ecological-Evolutionary Theory

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  1. Ecological-EvolutionaryTheory Who gets what and why?

  2. Part I Overview

  3. An aside… • “Theory” and “stratification theory” • What should a theory of stratification do? • Explanation vs. prediction • Emphasis on the question: “Who gets what and why?”

  4. Key features • Focus on the distributive system • Causal taxonomy based on independent variables • Emphasis on technology as a necessary (not sufficient) condition • Attention to both constants and variables

  5. Ecological-evolutionary development

  6. The main independent variable: Technology • What are the advantages and disadvantages of focusing on technology? • As a theoretical construct, what does technology explain and/or predict? • Might there be a more powerful predictor of first-order societal differences?

  7. The “constants”: What are they? • Social nature • Self-interested nature • Unequal ability • Reliance on habit and custom (which can vary) • Scarcity of rewards • Human societies are imperfect systems • Which, if any, of these are problematic?

  8. The “constants” (II): What role do they play? • How would the theory fare without the constants? • Do our methods privilege variables over constants? • Are constants more relevant for explanation than prediction?

  9. Continuity Innovation The forces • Selection

  10. Part II Macro Level: Historical Trends

  11. Accurate “predictions” • Growth in average size of societies • Reduction in number of societies • Similarity of surviving societies • Increasing population • Increasing division of labor (w/in and between countries) • Etc.

  12. From technology to inequality • How does technology lead to inequality? • How does innovation fuel further innovation? • What do these processes imply about the importance of initial resource endowments?

  13. Societal types • How might we explain “AG reversals” in slavery, despotism, polygyny, etc.? • Why does inequality decline in industrial societies? • Why might inequality increase in post-industrial society?

  14. Part III “Meso” Level: Power and Class

  15. Laws of distribution (i.e. stratification) • Sharing occurs to the extent that it benefits those who control the surplus • Power determines the distribution of nearly all the remaining surplus • Simple societies distribute based on need • Societies with a surplus distribute based on power

  16. Power • What is it? • What are the sources of power? • If power is a predictive concept, how can we measure it? • What is the relationship between coercion and consensus? • How does power “flow both ways”?

  17. The concept of class • What is Lenski’s definition of class? • Is this more or less useful/realistic than other definitions? • How would one operationalize economic class in this theory?

  18. Conflict and consensus • What is the basis of class conflict? • What is the basis of class consensus?

  19. Class systems • What are class systems and how do they differ from classes? • What are historical examples of conflict between class systems? • What role does status inconsistency play in these conflicts? • How could one empirically determine the relative weight of a class system?

  20. Part IV Conclusion: Situating the Theory

  21. The theoretical ecology • Into what niche does this theory fit? What kind of theory is this? • To which theories is Lenski responding? • Who are his main competitors?

  22. Ecological-evolutionary theoryand functionalism • Will someone please pretend to be a functionalist for this discussion? • Briefly, what are functionalism’s central tenets for stratification? • What are the similarities? Differences?

  23. Ecological-evolutionary theoryand “conflict theories” • Briefly, what are conflict theory’s central tenets for stratification? • What are the similarities? • What are the differences?

  24. A synthesis? • How persuasive is Lenski’s attempt at synthesizing “consensus” and “conflict” perspectives?

  25. The final test • What can we do with ecological-evolutionary theory that we cannot do without it?

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