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carolinedk 's review for:
The Dawn of Everything
by David Wengrow, David Graeber
Starting with Hobbes’ vision of Man in a state of chaos and Rousseau’s vision of Man in a state of bucolic simplicity, Graeber and Wingrow deconstruct and dismantle our assumptions about the development of modern civilization. The goal is to reimagine our understanding of the supposedly “inevitable” and perfectly linear progression from bands to tribes to cities to states, and instead consider whether many past societies actively rebelled against a “more advanced” political system in favor of a different and carefully conceived one of their own design. Rather than asking “what are the origins of inequality” or “what was the origin of the state,” the authors argue, we should instead consider what came before these relatively modern concepts.
One interest structure introduced was that of the three forms of social liberty: 1) freedom to relocate (both physical ability to do so, and having the confidence that you’ll be welcomed in the new place and/or survive well there), 2) freedom to ignore or disobey commands (aka reject a ruler if desired) and 3) freedom to shape entirely new social realities. The third one is key to understanding the arguments made in this book.
The true question, arrived at in the book’s conclusion, is “how did we find ourselves stuck in just one form of social reality, and how did relations based ultimately on violence and domination come to be normalized within it?” The answer, naturally, is outside the scope of this work. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed considering it.
One interest structure introduced was that of the three forms of social liberty: 1) freedom to relocate (both physical ability to do so, and having the confidence that you’ll be welcomed in the new place and/or survive well there), 2) freedom to ignore or disobey commands (aka reject a ruler if desired) and 3) freedom to shape entirely new social realities. The third one is key to understanding the arguments made in this book.
The true question, arrived at in the book’s conclusion, is “how did we find ourselves stuck in just one form of social reality, and how did relations based ultimately on violence and domination come to be normalized within it?” The answer, naturally, is outside the scope of this work. But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed considering it.