Lecture 27: Power and Its Origins
The appearance of the ¿ rst tribute-taking states marks a new level of social
complexity. Indeed, though I have not classi¿ ed this as one of our eight
major thresholds, one could make a case for doing so. States were larger,
more internally varied, and more complex than the village communities of
the early Agrarian era or the small, kin-based communities of the Paleolithic
era. They all achieved a certain degree of stability (though eventually they
all broke down). To maintain their complex structures, they mobilized the
resources and energy of millions of individuals. Large projects such as
the building of pyramids or the formation of armies demonstrated their
power to mobilize energy, resources, and people. Tribute-taking states also
generated new “emergent” properties,
such as organized warfare, monumental
architecture, the management of markets,
and an unprecedented power to coerce.To understand the emergence of tribute-
taking states, we need a clear de¿ nition of
institutionalized (as opposed to personal)
power. I will de¿ ne institutionalized power
as the concentration in the hands of a few people of substantial control over
considerable human and material resources. Note that this de¿ nition has
two components: control and the resources being controlled. The distinction
matters because where there are few people and resources to control, power
has limited reach. This is why power structures were less signi¿ cant and less
institutionalized in the Paleolithic era. As populations—as well as the goods
they produced—multiplied, power began to matter more as leaders gained
control over more people, more resources, and more energy.Now we return to the early Agrarian era to trace how power structures
became more signi¿ cant and more institutionalized. It will help to imagine
two distinct ways of mobilizing power. Though intertwined in reality, we
can distinguish them analytically. “Power from below” is power conceded
more or less willingly by individuals or groups who expect to bene¿ t from
subordination to skillful leaders. People expect something in return for
subordination, so power from below is a “mutualistic” form of symbiosis.
As societies became larger and denser, leadership became more important“Power from above”
depends on the capacity
to make credible threats
of coercion.