GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL - Cloverport Independent Schools

FROM EGALITARIANISM TO KLEPTOCRACY • 269
A horizontal arrow indicates that the attribute varies between less and more complex societies
of that type.
"egalitarian": there is no formalized social stratification into upper and
lower classes, no formalized or hereditary leadership, and no formalized
monopolies of information and decision making. However, the term
"egalitarian" should not be taken to mean that all band members are equal
in prestige and contribute equally to decisions. Rather, the term merely
means that any band "leadership" is informal and acquired through qualities
such as personality, strength, intelligence, and fighting skills.
My own experience with bands comes from the swampy lowland area
of New Guinea where the Fayu Jive, a region known as the Lakes Plains.
There, I still encounter extended families of a few adults with their dependent
children and elderly, living in crude temporary shelters along streams
and traveling by canoe and on foot. Why do peoples of the Lakes Plains