When new members
enter the group, by birth or adoption, they are duly indoctrinated with
the group ideology. Early in their history the individuals and
sub-groups composing every civilization adopted such standards and
promulgated them by the decree of a leader or by the common consent of
associated groups, as the outcome of negotiation, discussion, give and
take. During the history of every civilization such agreements were
reached and recorded in compacts, treaties, laws, constitutions,
specifying the nature and limits of the collective cultural uniformity
at which the community aimed.
The struggle for collective uniformity was long and often bitter.
Individuals and factions resented and resisted the imposition of group
authority. Internal conflict led to civil wars in the course of which
the group was divided or the solidarity of the group was reaffirmed
despite hardships imposed on disagreeing, divergent minorities.
Closely paralleling the group need for survival and uniformity
(solidarity) was the need for group expansion, or extension. In the
competitive struggle for survival which played such an important role in
the life of pre-civilized communities, strategic geographic location was
often decisive. Soil fertility, mineral deposits, timber reserves,
access to waterways, location on trade routes all played a part in
community survival, stability and growth.
Such geographical advantages are few and far between.
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