Speculations on the origins of authority

Admittedly, this is a topic fraught with uncertainty, but it’s very important to understand how hierarchies came into existence in the first place.

The most common theory is that inequality began with the Neolithic Revolution. When plants and animals became domesticated, land and livestock became private property, and this led to the development of class structures.

But there’s a glaring problem here. Even many hunter-gatherers seemed to have developed hierarchies.

Australian Aboriginal groups lived an immediate-return foraging lifestyle. Yet they had gerontocratic patriarchies dominated by old men, highly extensive kinship networks, and even an entire customary legal system rooted in oral tradition, despite the lack of a centralized state.

Notably, Australia was culturally isolated for tens of thousands of years, so hierarchy must have developed independently from any technological changes going on during the Neolithic. Any theory of how hierarchy originated needs to take into account the extraordinary social complexity of these Australian societies.

I know that Jackie has her own opinions, but I’d like to hear input from multiple different people on this issue. This post is intended to spark a good-faith intellectual discussion.