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How exactly did class society come to be? (hexbear.net)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by space_comrade@hexbear.net to c/theory@hexbear.net

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I understand the general Marxist theory about why class society arose, there was surplus production and that lead to the institution of private property and the rest follows.

All of that makes sense on a high level but what exactly happened on an individual human level? Conceivably those early civilizations could have elected to go for a more equitable and democratic distribution of the surplus value even if the result would probably not be 100% equitable and would result in some poverty due to material constraints at the time. How do you explain the first appearance of private property and class society on an individual level without delving into some evopsych nonsense about evolutionary instincts or whatever?

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[–] Bobson_Dugnutt@hexbear.net 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Gentes is the plural of gens, he was talking about the same clan-like family structures at different stages of history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gens

[–] juice_@hexbear.net 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This legit confused me, thanks, so I should just refer to the emergent castes as castes?

[–] Bobson_Dugnutt@hexbear.net 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I guess so? I've read Origin of the Family by Engels which is also based on Morgan's work, but not Marx's notes.

Iirc he talks about how in Ancient Greece and Rome the gentes lost their power and importance as the economy became more regionally connected and based on slavery, and local war chieftains or kings became more powerful. So politics came to be based more around geography and military might than family structures, and class society emerged as some people were captured or sold into slavery and disconnected from their gentes, or became more powerful through military conquest and/or priestly administrative roles and chose to ignore the old social order of the gentes.

[–] juice_@hexbear.net 2 points 6 days ago

Oh interesting, Marx had some comments about the how the nuclear family arose alongside monarchy but wasn't created by monarchy, but Tue nuclear family inherited the contradictions of society at large.

I haven't read that one, but given my interest in this subject I'll have to look it up.