this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

How is that going to work when you live in a group of around 30 to 50 people, all of whom are closely related either through blood or marriage, and all of whom have known you for your entire life?

What we see in all of the ethnographic literature on small-scale hunting and gathering societies is that you absolutely cannot rise to a position of power and influence simply on the basis of strength. To the contrary, the way you gain power and influence is by being a good and wise and generous provider for the group, not by beating your fellow tribe-mates down.

If you know of an example that demonstrates your idea, please do tell, since I am unaware of any such case in the existing anthropological literature.