Modern Capitalist Culture

Leslie A White

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781315424439
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

This lost classic by famous anthropological theorist Leslie A. White, published now for the first time, represents twenty-five years of his scholarship on the anthropology of modern capitalism. Drawing out his now classic formulations of social organization, cultural evolution, and the relationship between technology, ecology, and culture, this major theoretical work traces a vast expanse of history from the earliest forms of capitalism to the detailed inner workings of contemporary democratic institutions. A substantial foreword by Burton J. Brown, Benjamin Urish, and Robert Carneiro both situates this posthumous work within the history of anthropological theory and shows its importance to contemporary debates within the discipline.

1

INTRODUCTION

Man and culture originated simultaneously in the Eastern hemisphere a million years or so ago. We define man as a primate who is able to symbol, i.e., to originate, determine and bestow meaning upon things or events in the external world. These meanings cannot be comprehended with the senses. Holy water is a good example of a product of symboling; fetishes, gestures like “biting one’s thumb” at someone (Romeo and Juliet, Act. I, Sc. 1) are other examples. But the most important and characteristic form of symboling is articulate speech.

By culture we mean the tools, utensils, magical paraphernalia—and techniques of using them—customs, institutions, works and forms of art, ideas, beliefs, and language that all human societies have possessed in all times and places. Culture is dependent upon symboling in general and articulate speech in particular. Some primates became human beings when, as a consequence of biological evolution, they became possessed of the ability to symbol. And culture was brought into existence and has been perpetuated by the exercise of this ability. Human societies could not possess customs, institutions, ideologies, codes of ethics and etiquette, or even progressive and cumulative technologies without articulate speech, without the ability to symbol.

The purpose and function of culture is to serve the needs of man, both with regard to the external world and with reference to his inner psychological needs. Culture is a device for relating man to his terrestrial habitat and to the cosmos, and to relate man to man. Culture is thus an extra-somatic means of making life secure and enduring for the human species, and to make it worthwhile.

Within a relatively short time after the ability to symbol had been realized in a certain line or lines of primate evolution, all human societies equipped themselves with complete cultures, i.e., with customs, codes, institutions, ideologies and progressive technological traditions. To be sure, they were crude, meager and simple. But they were complete cultures and they had all of the kinds of things that all cultures of the modern world possess. Culture is then transmitted from one generation to another, by social (i.e., non-genetic) means. It thus flows down through time from age to age. It may also diffuse laterally from one people or region to another.

The culture of any human society is systemically organized; all parts are integrated into a coherent whole. We call these systems socio-cultural systems; i.e., cultural systems defined in terms of the boundaries of autonomous socio-political units, such as a tribe or a nation. But we may think of the culture of mankind as a whole as a total cultural system. As this cultural system descends through the centuries it undergoes change; one form gives way to another; one stage emerges from its predecessor. In short, culture evolves.

A cultural system, like all material systems, is a dynamic system, a thermodynamic system. It requires energy with which to operate. Every event that takes place, whether it is chipping an arrow head, catching a fish, avoiding one’s motherin-law, or uttering a prayer, requires energy. We conceive of cultural systems as means of harnessing energy and of putting it to work in the service of human beings. An account of the evolution of culture, therefore, consists of a recital of the significant events in the long history of harnessing and utilizing energy.

The human organism was the first source of energy by means of which cultural systems were activated. And for all but a tiny fraction of human history, human energy was the only significant source of motive power for cultural systems. Notwithstanding the importance of fire in some respects in early cultures, it did not become significant as a culture builder, as a source of mechanical power, until the development of steam engines. And wind and water were virtually negligible as sources of energy until relatively recent times.

The degree of cultural development is directly proportional to the amount of energy harnessed and put to work per capita per year, other factors being constant: the more energy the higher the culture. This generalization explains why there was so very little cultural advance for hundreds of thousands of years after the origin of man: cultural systems were activated by human energy alone; the amount of energy available for culture-building was minimal; such progress as was achieved was made possible by the invention of new tools and the improvement of old ones. The aborigines of Australia, fairly well known to modern science, present examples of the kind of cultural systems that have only the energy of the human organism as motive power. And, it is significant to note, all the cultures of mankind would have remained on this low level indefinitely had not some way been found to increase the amount of energy harnessed per capita per year.

Cultural means for harnessing more energy were developed in some places in the Eastern hemisphere about 8000 B.C., and later in the Americas, namely, the arts of agriculture and the domestication of animals. Plants and animals are forms and magnitudes of energy, energy derived from the Sun. Primitive man had, of course, exploited plants and animals for ages, but mere exploitation is one thing; domestication and cultivation, quite another. Agriculture and animal husbandry are cultural means of laying hold of and controlling these forces of nature. The result of these innovations was a rapid and enormous increase in the amount of energy available for culture-building. In a relatively short time the great cultures of Egypt and Mesopotamia, India, and Eastern Asia, in the New World in the Andean highlands and Middle America, were developed. Villages grew into cities; tribes were replaced by nations and empires. Palaces and temples were constructed; writing, metallurgy, mathematics, astronomy, and the beginnings of other sciences were developed.

The great cultures of the Bronze and Iron Ages flourished for a few thousand years, but there was little advancement between about 2800 B.C. and the beginning of the Christian era. And only a few significant developments in the techniques of harnessing and utilizing energy took place between the close of the pre-Christian era and the eighteenth century A.D. There was some use of water wheels and of animals to operate mills in the eastern Mediterranean area shortly before the beginning of the Christian era. A new type of harness for horses was introduced in Western Europe about the tenth century (A.D.), which increased the work output by about 300 percent. Windmills came into use in Western Europe about the twelfth century. And, of course, wind power was greatly expanded by the use of sailing ships which replaced the former man-powered galleys.

But by the end of the seventeenth century A.D. the culture of Europe had developed about as far as it could with the energy and technological resources at its disposal. As in the case of the human energy era, further significant cultural development would depend upon new techniques to harness additional amounts of energy per capita per year. These were developed in the eighteenth century, the significant point being the steam engine patented by James Watt in 1769. Thus was inaugurated the great Fuel Revolution: the harnessing and utilization of solar energy in the form of wood, coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Again culture took a great leap forward, and, as a consequence, the nations of Western Europe, and later, the United States, rose to a position of ascendancy over all the lands and peoples of the Earth.

To complete this brief sketch of the development of cultural techniques to harness energy we need only to mention the atomic chain reaction, first achieved in 1942, which made possible the utilization of nuclear energy.

Technological revolution is followed by social and ideological revolution. The Agricultural Revolution brought about revolutionary changes in institutions and in thought. The early societies which subsisted upon wild food and whose cultures were activated by human energy alone were organized upon the basis of kinship: of families, lineages, clans, bands and tribes. They were characterized by equality: there were no masters and servants, no nobles or slaves. The principle of mutual aid lay at the foundation of their social life. No one was denied free access to the resources of nature—which was the basis of their social and political freedoms. There was occupational division of labor between the sexes, but virtually none in the arts and crafts. The political groups were small.

The Agricultural Revolution changed all this. As a response to the increased productivity of human labor, it became possible for a portion of the population to produce enough food for all. An increasing proportion of the population was divorced from agriculture and became organized into occupational groups: in agriculture and in the arts and crafts. The population increased greatly; large cities and states came into being. Largely as a consequence of warfare, and the necessity of organization for large irrigation projects and public works, a new kind of economic system became necessary, and society became divided into classes: a small dominant class into whose hands fell a virtual monopoly of political power and control over wealth; and a large subordinate class of agricultural and other workers who found themselves in a position of political subjugation and economic exploitation. The new societies were characterized by increased structural differentiation and functional specialization. Conflict of class interests replaced the mutual aid principle of the ancient societies based upon kinship.

A new means of socio-political integration and control was needed to hold the new complex and self-conflicting societies together. This was provided by the development of the state-church, a mechanism of integration and control having two aspects, or component parts: the one secular, the other ecclesiastical.

The basic function of the state-church was to foster and maintain the integrity of the socio-cultural system of which it was a part. This integrity was threatened from two sources: from outside and from inside the socio-cultural system itself. On the one hand, the state-church had to mobilize the resources of their respective societies to make defensive and offensive war against their neighbors with whom they were in competition. And, on the other hand, the state-church had to prevent the disruption of socio-cultural systems through insurrection by keeping the masses in a position of subordination. Then, too, there were public services, such as irrigation, the building of temples, transportation, etc., which were carried on under the direction and control of the state-church.

In the realm of ideology, the Agricultural Revolution transformed mythology into theology, i.e., it reduced certain oral traditions to writing, more or less systematized them, and placed them in the custody of a priesthood. And, moving away from supernaturalism as a philosophy of nature and of life, significant beginnings were made in mathematics and the sciences of astronomy, anatomy and medicine, physics and mechanics.

Such, in essence, was the great Agricultural Revolution, the first profound and comprehensive change in culture since its origin. We have merely sketched its course. We have told what took place, but we have not, here, explained why and how the various events occurred. For this the reader is invited to consult our book, The Evolution of Culture.

The great cultures of the Bronze and Iron Ages were characterized, in addition to metallurgy, by large cities, states and empires, writing, the beginnings of science, and a complex social organization. One of the great centers of this type of culture in the Old World was in the so-called Fertile Crescent: Egypt and Mesopotamia. As culture declined in these areas it spread to and ascended in the West: in Greece and, later, in Rome. But, with the fall of Rome, not long after the beginning of the Christian era, this great cultural tradition came to an end as an era in the history of civilization.

Whether Rome “fell” or not depends upon how one defines “fell” and also upon the way in which one characterizes what took place. There was no cataclysmic collapse in the west, and in the east the Byzantine Empire remained in strength and vitality for some centuries. But Roman military might markedly diminished, Rome itself was captured more than once by “barbarians”; the empire fell to pieces. The eastern empire went down gradually under pressure from Islam on the one side and the Crusades on the other.

If we look back over the entire extent of culture history, we see a very long period of “primitive,” or preliterate cultures, dependent upon human energy and wild foods followed by a relatively brief Neolithic period during which the foundations of civilization were laid: the origin of agriculture and animal husbandry. Then came the first great flowering of civilization: the urban, literate, metallurgical, calendrical cultures of the Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages. This cultural tradition flourished, in Western Eurasia and Africa from about 5000 or 4000 B.C. until the collapse of the Roman state in the fourth century of the Christian era. If one looks at the fall of Rome microscopically instead of telescopically, one can argue for a certain amount of continuity as against a sharp break. But when one looks at the larger picture, it becomes apparent that a great period of cultural development, of culture history, came to an end with the collapse of the Roman state. The next great period—in Western Eurasia, that is—begins in the eighteenth century with the Fuel Revolution. This inaugurated another Great Cultural Tradition: a culture characterized by capitalism, democracy, and above all, by the utilization of solar energy in the form of fuels. Our task now is to relate, in terms of culture history and development, these two great cultural traditions to each other: the great cultures of antiquity with modern civilization.

For ages on end, Europe, and especially the Western and northern parts of Europe, was peripheral to the great land masses of the eastern hemisphere: Eurasia and Africa. As a consequence of this marginality, the cultures of northwestern Europe lagged far behind the great cultures of Mesopotamia and, later, of Greece and Rome. Culture tends to flow downhill, so to speak, i.e., from higher to lower levels. Cultural advances made in one region tend to diffuse to others. Thus, the traction plough was in use in Sumeria in the fourth millennium B.C.; it diffused northwestward, reaching northern Europe in the early Iron Age, about 500–100 B.C. Similarly, the Sumerians were using the potter’s wheel 3,000 years before the Christian era; in its diffusion westward and northward it reached Greece about 1800 B.C.; Italy, 750 B.C.; Southern England about 50 B.C.; and Scotland about A.D. 400. Wheeled vehicles, metallurgy, writing, coinage and other fundamental culture traits were developed and diffused in essentially the same way (based largely on A History of Technology, Charles Singer et al., eds.).

At the time of Rome’s greatness, the cultures of central and northern Europe were primitive and crude. The Germanic peoples, one would judge from Tacitus’ Germania, were in a transitional stage between tribal and civil organization. The peoples and cultures of Britain and Scandinavia were likewise backward as compared with Roman civilization.

Central and Western Europe was characterized by migrations, invasions, warfare and pillage during and after Rome’s decline and fall. As we have previously indicated, the Germanic invasions were not cataclysmic and catastrophic. The Germans and the Romans “had been acquainted and even commingled for four hundred years before the eventful fifth century. As the Roman Empire gradually crumbled like a dilapidated house, the Germans filled the ruined provinces, which were as rooms in the vast edifice, and dwelt in them side by side with the native populace” (Thompson, 1928, p. 103). In A.D. 275–276, the Germans invaded Gaul and wrought much havoc. The large scale Germanic migrations, or invasions as they are often called, began at the close of the fourth century and continued through the fifth and sixth centuries. But the German peoples involved were already within the Roman Empire or in active contact with it.

The Huns, a fierce nomadic people of Mongol-Tatar origin invaded Europe in the latter part of the fourth century, A.D. They overcame the East Goths and set the West Goths in motion. The latter invaded Italy and captured Rome in 410. Forty years later, the Huns invaded Italy and threatened Rome. The Vandals, who had been driven out of Spain by the West Goths, crossed over to Africa where they captured Carthage in 439. Then they turned northward, invaded Italy and captured Rome in 455. Meanwhile, the East Goths, freed at last from domination by the Huns, got under way again. In 489 they invaded Italy and overran the peninsula. A kingdom was established under Theodoric which lasted until demolished by Justinian in 552 after a grueling war of seventeen years during which Rome was besieged repeatedly and changed hands more than once. The Lombards invaded Italy in 568. Elsewhere, the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes began their invasions of Britain about the middle of the fifth century.

The Mohammedans invaded Spain in 711, and affected a rather easy conquest. But when they crossed the Pyrenees and threatened not only France, but Western Christendom, they were effectively checked and turned back by Charles Martel at Tours (732).

Next came the devastating raids of the Northmen. Beginning with an attack upon England in 787, they descended upon the coasts of continental Europe which they plundered and ravaged. Pressing inland they captured Paris in 845. They also had the effect of fostering trade; they had established trade routes with the east through Russia and Kiev.

Thus, for several centuries after the collapse of Rome, Central and Western Europe was the scene of migrations, invasions, chronic warfare, pillage, turbulence, and disorder. At the same time, however, there were forces—cultural processes—working in the opposite direction: toward stability, peace and order.

All species strive for security and continuity of life. This is not a metaphysical proposition, but a simple generalization based upon observation and induction. The function of a socio-cultural system in the human species is to provide security, welfare, and continuity of life for its component human beings. But socio-cultural systems—tribes, nations—come into conflict with one another at times. Sometimes the result of this conflict is suffering and loss for all combatants; no one wins, everyone loses. Culture has two ways of coping with situations like this. On the one hand, confederacies of tribes—like the famous League of the Iroquois—may be established, or alliances of nations effected. On the other hand, cultures may work for stability and order, security and progress, with resources within themselves, which, in civil society, is the mechanism of integration and control: the state-church.

The achievements of the state as a mechanism of organization during the medieval period are best exemplified by the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties. Clovis (466–511) may be considered as the true founder of the Frankish monarchy. He reigned over the Salian Franks by hereditary right; other peoples—the Alemanni, Burgundians, Visigoths, Thuringians and Bavarians—were brought under his rule by conquest. By 567, Frankish dominion had reached the Pyrenees and the Atlantic on the west...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Nature of Capitalist-Democratic Culture
• 3. Early Development of Capitalist Culture: Tenth to Sixteenth Centuries
• 4. Development of Capitalist-Democratic Culture: Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries
• 5. The Fuel Revolution
• 6. Socio-cultural Consequences of the Fuel Revolution
• 7. The United States: From Colonial Times to World War I
• 8. Jungle Capitalism
• 9. The State-Church in Capitalist-Democratic Society
• 10. Class Structure and Class Relations
• 11. Class Structure in the United States: Capital and Labor
• 12. The Social Organization of Tenure and Control of Wealth
• 13. Big Business and Government
• 14. Small Business
• 15. The Socialization of Wealth
• 16. Distribution of Wealth and Income
• 17. From Laissez-Faire to Welfare, Part I
• 18. From Laissez-Faire to Welfare, Part II
• 19. Subsidies: Government Interference in the Free Enterprise System
• 20. Mutual Funds
• 21. Pension Plans
• Bibliography
• Index