What makes a society durable?
Some native-American tribes endured as viable cultures. Others assimilated or became cruel caricatures of what they once were.
Thousands of religions sprang up over the thousands of years of recorded history yet few remain.
What is the difference?
Edward Spicer (an anthropologist) claims that the enduring cultures have enough members in the community who express an affinity to share symbols and values through time, from one generation to the next. The common covenant must be constantly transmitted and reinforced by legends, codes of behavior, ceremonial songs and dances, rituals, vigils and pilgrimages to places sacred to that culture. After inoculation with the values held within their community, children acquired a degree of resistance to the dominant culture.
...enough members... The Wesley brothers would suggest that 150 families is ideal. But what is the practical minimum? How close together must they be? The internet is fine but it can be shut-down or censored.
Any thoughts?
I would guess 150 families is about the minimum... Look at the Amish families/communities that have carried on... Could get a bit smaller but then genetics might become an issue over the generations....
ReplyDeleteJustim
ERJ, I remember from Philip J. Farmer's book Dark is the Sun that one of the characters said that 400 adults (mostly not co-sanguineous) were enough to maintain a population.
ReplyDeleteThe big thought you discuss there is the idea of some level of cultural isolation. More dominant cultures have been subsuming smaller cultures for thousands of years as the dominant culture can offer things like luxuries and opportunities that the smaller culture has not. As someone noted, the roads into the Appalachian and the Scottish Highlands ended up not bringing more people in, but allowed people to leave in greater numbers.
Unfortunately the roads into the UP of Michigan have ended up bringing more people in and pretty much destroying the culture.---ken
ReplyDeleteThings okay in Eaton Rapids, Joe?
ReplyDeleteirontomflint
I would say Toird is correct. Four hundred 'stable' adults that stick around would be a basis. If there is a lot of movement in/out, I think it would be doomed to failure for lack of continunity.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at how some small groups hang on even in the midst of an ocean of competing and often hostile (some murderously so) neighbors.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking of the Yazidi and Mandeans of Iraq, the Ainu of Japan, Parsee of India.
None of these are exactly isolated in a mountainous redoubt like say the Tibetans but in long settled and occupied lands.
There a lot to be said for endogamy and even arranged marriage as gatekeepers.
You need enough adults to establish and define the community, enough children who can be taught to maintain the community, a way to bring new members into the community. and a community belief system that offers benefits and rewards beyond that promised by the surrounding culture.
ReplyDeleteRefusing children is why the Shaker communities died out, they couldn't recruit enough adults to their ascetic beliefs to maintain their population. Contrast their failure with the endurance of Catholic Holy Orders. They were where younger sons went when going into commerce was not accepted so there was a continuous stream of candidates.
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One need only study the Amish and Mennonites in N America for the last couple hundred years to answer that question Joe.
ReplyDeleteWhile picking up goods from the Amish in Homer, MI a few weeks ago, I learned that several young families were leaving to branch out and establish themselves on a few hundred acres they had just acquired in rural Leslie, MI.
They were modestly proud and clearly excited at the challenge that lay before them.
Heck, I was happy for them to hear they had run out of land to acquire nearby in Homer. We did not discuss the gene pool, but maybe that is part of their planning?
The biggest factor by far in creating a successful enduring culture is COMMON VALUES. Which is why we see the nonstop attack on American values by the left. It's the best way to destroy American culture.
ReplyDeleteI think there needs to be a reason for them to have pride and see themselves as unique. The most classic example is Jews, hounded and massacred for millennia yet they endured.
ReplyDelete(Probably more common than I know).
150 *families*? That runs counter to what's described as 'Dunbar's number' which says the optimum number for individuals in a group is 147, usually rounded up to 150. I recall vaguely some other study that said 135 was correct number for individuals in a group/company/village. That is, enough for group cohesion and consistency for values maintained across all members.
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