Civilization and Its Discontents 271(^16) Marcus, J., & Flannery, K. V. (1996). Zapotec civilization: How urban
society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. New York: Thames & Hudson.
developed what they call action theory.^16 This theory
acknowledges the relationship of society to the envi-
ronment in shaping social and cultural behavior, but it
also recognizes that forceful leaders strive to advance
their positions through self-serving actions. In so do-
ing, they may create change.
In the case of Maya history, for example, local lead-
ers, who once relied on personal charisma for the eco-
nomic and political support needed to sustain them in
their positions, may have seized upon religion to so-
lidify their power. Through religion they developed an
ideology that endowed them and their descendants with
supernatural ancestry and gave them privileged access
to the gods, on which their followers depended. In this
case, certain individuals could monopolize power and
emerge as divine kings, using their power to subjugate
any rivals.
As the above example makes clear, the context in
which a forceful leader operates is critical. In the case of
the Maya, the combination of existing cultural and ecolog-
ical factors opened the way to the emergence of political
dynasties. Thus explanations of civilization’s emergence
are likely to involve multiple causes, rather than just one.
Furthermore, we may also have the cultural equivalent of
what biologists call convergence, where similar societies
come about in different ways. Consequently, a theory that
accounts for the rise of civilization in one place may not
account for its rise in another.
Civilization and Its
Discontents
Living in the context of civilization ourselves, we are in-
clined to view its development as a great step up on a
so-called ladder of progress. Whatever benefits civiliza-
tion has brought, the cultural changes it represents have
produced new problems. Among them is the problem of
waste disposal. In fact, waste disposal probably began to
be a problem in settled, farming communities even before
civilizations emerged. But as villages grew into towns and
towns grew into cities, the problem became far more se-
rious, as crowded conditions and the buildup of garbage
and sewage created optimal environments for infectious
diseases such as bubonic plague, typhoid, and cholera.
Early cities therefore tended to be disease-ridden places,
with relatively high death rates.
Genetically based adaptation to diseases may also have
influenced the course of civilization. In northern Europe-
ans, for example, the mutation of a gene on chromosome 7
The relative dearth of ancient monumental structures in North America has led some to assume the superiority
of European civilization, rather than to acknowledge the successful nomadic cultural pattern of many North
American Indian groups. Cities were present in precontact North America. Take for example Cahokia, located
in Southern Illinois, a city with an estimated population of 40,000 people dating from 650 to 1400 CE. Ca-
hokia’s pyramid-shaped ceremonial mounds spanned an area larger than the great pyramids of Egypt. Until
1800, when Philadelphia surpassed it, Cahokia was the largest city in the land that is now the United States.
© Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site
action theory The theory that self-serving actions by forceful
leaders play a role in civilization’s emergence.