CHAPTER 2
Communal Equality to Slavery in the Middle East
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Comprehend the components and process of the Neolithic revolution.
Explain the role that increasing productivity played in changing social and economic
institutions.
OUTLINE OF CHAPTER
I. Change in Prehistoric Communal Societies
II. Collective Labor to Division of Labor
IX. Racist Myths and Slavery
X. Slavery and Myths of Divinity
XI. Technology and the Division of Labor
KEY TERMS
B.C.E
before the Common Era
diffusion
the spread of knowledge by the movement of ideas from one village to another, as in the spread
of early farming
ANSWERS TO END OF CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS
Comprehend the components and process of the Neolithic revolution.
1. What are the three key discoveries comprising the Neolithic revolution?
2. What and where is the earliest evidence of agriculture, better stone tools and pottery?
Early evidence of planted crops in Syria and Palestine as early as 13000 BCE, and a
3. What is diffusion?
4. Explain the role of geography in early farming.
Geography affected diffusion easier in Europe and Asia because all one continent
5. How did agriculture spread from where it originated?
Explain the role that increasing productivity played in changing social and economic
institutions.
6. How is technology changing? How did the changing technology improve productivity?
7. Explain how productivity aids specialization and how specialization improves
productivity.
Creation of a surplus allows for the possibility of specialization in activities other than
8. What is the relationship of increasing productivity and the creation of surplus? Be sure to
define the term surplus in your answer.
9. Why is surplus so crucial in the further changes in society?
10. How did increasing productivity enable towns to grow in size and population?
11. What is wealth and why are some people able to accumulate wealth?
Wealth is defined as the net ownership of assets, i.e. assets liabilities = net worth or
12. Explain the significance of private property rights for accumulating wealth.
Private property rights give the owner control over an asset and the right to exclude any
13. Why was war not practical or profitable in communal society? Why does increasing
productivity and surplus now make war profitable?
War was not profitable in communal society due to the absence of wealth. Increased
14. How does widening differences in economic wealth translate into widening differences in
political power?
Understand the composition of a slave society.
15. What main groups of people comprised the slave population?
16. Who were the independent farmers and why did independent farms die out?
In Greece, independent farms died out due to competition with large plantations with
17. Why did workers in the cities who were not slaves remain poor?
The dominance of slaves meant that independent workers could only ask low prices.
Comprehend the changing ideologies.
18. What is the sequence of events that led wom
with men to being subordinate to men?
19.
Inherited property meant that it was important to have a legitimate heir. This could be
sexual behavior of ruling class men.
20. What are examples of some racist myths or prejudice?
21. Why is the ideology of racial superiority so useful to the ruling class? Give examples to
support your reasoning.
22. Explain the emergence of priests and religious leaders in the slave society. What role do
they play in this society?
A strong government was needed in slave societies to prevent rebellions and to wage
23. How does governing change in the slave society?
Explain how the four institutions of society changed in the evolution from communal to
slave-based society.
24. Explain the common features of ancient slave-based societies for each of the four
institutional structures in our framework: technology, economic institutions, social
institutions, and ideology.
Technology: based on tools made of bronze and other metals. Agriculture including
25. How are the features of each institutional structure different from communal society?