Showing papers by "Albion College published in 1983"

Aztec State Making: Ecology, Structure, and the Origin of the State

Abstract: It has become increasingly difficult to account for state formation solely in terms of ecological variables. It is suggested that consideration of prestate political structure and the interplay of ecological variables and political dynamics (political ecology) would enhance our understanding of why and how states emerge. The Aztecs provide a case for examination. [Aztecs, ecology, political competition, state origins] THE STATE IS A POWERFUL, COMPLEX, PERMANENTLY INSTITUTED SYSTEM Of centralized political administration. It exercises sovereignty in carrying out basic political functions (maintaining territorial rights, maintaining internal order, making and executing decisions regarding group action), and its authority in these matters is buttressed by sovereignty in the use of force within its jurisdiction (Keesing 1976:348; Sahlins 1968:4-7; Yoffee 1979:14-17). States are characterized by administrative complexity; administrative personnel are hierarchically ordered and specialized by administrative tasks (Johnson 1973:1-4; Wright 1978:49-68). The numerous attempts to explain why states emerge in some times and places but not others have been dominated by two contrasting approaches: the ecological and the structural. The first, based on the work of Julian Steward, relates state formation to the problems and/or opportunities presented to a human population by its environmental setting. In this approach, population growth and its resulting pressures provide the dynamic for state formation, and at least the initial stages are said to be promoted by the ecological benefits that the state confers on its general population. The second approach, growing out of the Marx-Engels tradition, regards state formation as a process generated by particular sociocultural orders. Certain types of societies (stratified societies, for example) are said to possess an internal dynamic that exerts pressure for state formation even when the relationship between the human population and its environment is stable. In this approach, the focus is less on a human population as a whole and more on social components and their interactions. Of these two approaches, the first has received a greater share of attention and has been elaborated more fully. As a result, some of its difficulties are now evident. The structural approach has been less thoroughly explored. This paper has three objectives: to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the ecological approach to state formation in its current form; to suggest how a greater em

The Symbolic Growth Experience

Abstract: I have developed a concept I call the Symbolic Growth Experience (SGE). This concept refers to those significant moments in life when we create personal meaning by symbolizing our immediate experience in the interest of heightened consciousness and personal growth. The SGE suggests a radical way of apprehending and responding to our experience. As we perceive or create the symbolic dimensions of our experience we become profound and sensitive interpreters of our innermost lives and creative agents in our growth. The SGE is intimately related to the developmental process. At the time an SGE occurs, many complex psychological and environmental forces converge to form a harmonious and meaningful pattern. It is the propitious timing of this Gestalt formation that strongly suggests Carl Jung's concept of "synchronicity." This important concept aids us in understanding the nature of the SGE; the SGE, in turn, extends and enriches the meaning of synchronicity.