You-Sheng
Li has recently introduced the concepts of the genetically coded primary society and the man-made secondary
society, and explored their implications in anthropology and sociology. (You-Sheng Li, 2005)
The Concept of Primary Society and Secondary Society (Rewritten, August 29, 2011)
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(1)
The Definition of the Primary and the Secondary society
The primary Society is
genetically coded society, and it is based on our genetics. Human nature and
instinct are enough to keep a primary society harmonious and functional. The
primary society is the basic social organization of man immediately above
families. The ideal number of people in this primary society is believed to be
around 150. Bands and tribes are regarded as primary societies. Chiefdoms and
states are not .The culture of primary societies is close to basic human
nature, and has no power to modify human nature. Overextension of peripheral
potentials of human nature is rarely institutionalized in the primary society.
The secondary society is
man-made society. Since it is man-made, it has its purpose, namely the ideology
or the value system, and the social structure to support the purpose. A
secondary society is usually far larger than the primary society. The
introduction of social stratification and other institutions that are against
human nature is often necessary to keep a secondary society stable. The
secondary society is created by human culture, and therefore, it has limitless
possibilities with different value systems, and different directions while the
primary society, dictated by human genetics, has only one type.
All animal societies are
primary societies including those of apes. Most nonhuman primates are highly
social, and live in a group throughout all or nearly all of their long lives.
Living in a group is far more beneficial than living alone. People often refer
to the hierarchal societies of primates as the explanation of why we humans
have war and inequality in our society. In fact the current secondary society
is not a large copy of the primary society but a deviation from it. The
hierarchal society of primates is similar to our primary society but different
from our secondary society. The latter is a pure invention of human culture. In
the secondary society, hierarchy is the fixed social order that nobody is
allowed to challenge though there may be some social ladders allowing people to
climb and compete.
The social bond of primates is based on
reciprocity rather than a fixed hierarchy. Primates continuously groom each
other and help each other to solidify their social bond. Anthropologists
believed that naked humans chat with each other instead of grooming of the
primates. Physical strength is important but far from the decisive factor.
Since members interact each other face-to-face, there is a psychological and
emotional exchange and link among members of a primary society. Thus they are
psychologically and emotionally a whole in a primary society. Members of a
secondary society do not have such exchange and link but their unification
relies on their uniform belief and sharing the same value system or the same
ideology.
(2)Major
Differences Between the Primary and the Secondary
Society
The
definition of
and the distinction between the primary society and the secondary society can
be refined by examining the way in which they are contrary to each other: One
was man-made, the other, hereditary. It is thus not difficult at all delineating
the major differences between the two by deduction from the definition with
reference to ancient tribal and modern societies.
Those
differences include: 1) the former primary society is based on genetics, and
human nature and instinct are enough to keep it harmonious and functional while
the latter secondary society is man-made to serve its goal, and has an ideology
or value system with a social structure to support that goal. 2) Dictated by
genetics, the former has only one type while the latter has limitless possible
types. Social stratification and institutionalized violence such as police and
army are often necessary to keep the latter stable in its present type
and restrain its members from seeking other types of society. As a result, the
former does not need a forceful authority while the latter does. 3) The former
is a psychological/emotional whole because of the subconscious social bond
related to face-to-face interaction while the latter relies on a uniform
ideology and goal. The religious culture is animism and remains part of the
former society while the latter often has organized religions with different
belief systems. 4) Language is mainly for psychological/emotional exchange and
carries aesthetic value in the former while language is mainly for
communication or exchange of information, insights, opinion, and so on in the
latter. 5) Subjective consciousness is present in both but only the latter
allows its members to become men of their own making. 6) The philosophy of life
or world view is different: The former is able to view the physical world, the
social world, and the inner world of human minds from a relaxed mind while
dictated by the social ideology; the latter has a focused view. In fact, war
and competition forced people to focus on each other. European visual artists
created only human figures until the 17th and 18th
centuries when
Such
a list can be easily extended.
From
the definition, we can draw the conclusion that a primary society will form
automatically under the following conditions: 1). the population is
less than a few hundred, and the population is free to divide when it is too
large. 2).The population is engaged in face-to-face interaction; 3). There is
no contact with and no ideological influence from a secondary society; 4). There
is no outside force threatening their survival.
Ancient Mediterranean civilizations did not meet those conditions while Chinese civilization did. The ancient Chinese formed a super state to function as police to keep peace among local powers, and this relatively peaceful environment allowed the Chinese people to still live in primary societies until the Warring States Period (476-221 BC).
(For those who are interested in primary and secondary civilizations: There were six primary civilizations in the world, namely Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Mexico, and Peru. There was no higher civilization among the neighbours of a primary civilization. Greek and Hebrew civilizations were secondary but became the philosophical foundation for Western civilization that dominates the world today. Of those eight ancient civilizations, Chinese civilization showed many characteristics that were lacking in the other seven civilizations.) (3)
The Two Levels of Society Fits Well Into the Multi-Level Operation of Our
Universe
When
all human societies are divided into genetically coded primary societies and
man-made secondary societies, it is found that Chinese civilization started
with primary societies while Western civilization started with secondary
societies, which explains well their different cultural and philosophical
traditions. Taoism is essentially a philosophy of life for the primary society.
(Author 2005) It is enlightening to notice that the culturally complex Chinese
empire was once stabilized on and operated by nothing but human nature: the
ancient Chinese super state of primary societies.
Unlike
other classifications of human societies that focus on cumulative gradual
changes other than human nature, the division of human societies into two
levels, genetically coded and man-made, focuses on the underlying
transformation or a jump, which fits well into the multi-level operation of the
universe (Table 1). [Place Table 1 here]
Table 1. The Universal
Evolutionary Pathways
Content |
1. Physical World |
2. Life |
2. Culture |
4. Consciousness |
Level 1 |
Non-being |
|
|
|
Level 2 |
Being |
|
|
|
Level 3 |
Elementary
particles |
|
|
|
Level 4 |
Atoms and
electrons |
|
|
|
Level 5 |
Molecules |
DNA |
|
|
Level 6 |
Matters and
objects |
Cells |
|
|
Level 7 |
Stars and
planets |
Tissues |
|
|
Level 8 |
Galaxies |
Organs and
limbs |
|
|
Level 9 |
Universe |
Individuals |
|
|
Level 10 |
|
Primary
society |
Culture |
Subconscious
or aesthetic |
Level 11 |
|
Secondary
society |
Civilization |
Conscious:
rational thinking systems and spirituality |
There
are impassable gaps between those levels in Table 1. In a way, tissues are the
primary society of cells and organs are the secondary society of cells.
Normally, cells cannot leave their tissues to reach the organ level. Although
humans build secondary societies, our history also suggests an impassable gap
between the two levels of society.
From
the unearthed skeletons, one may see how healthy the ancient people were by
measuring their heights and the numbers of teeth they had lost. A study shows a
clear decreasing trend of human health in history: On average, adults lost 2.2
teeth in 30,000 BC, 3.5 teeth in 6,500 BC, and 6.6 teeth during the Roman
Period. The average height of adult males was 177 cm thirty thousand years ago,
165 cm ten thousand years ago, and 175 cm for American males in the 1960s. (Harris
1977) According
to another study, the Chinese population suddenly dropped more than half for at
least ten times between 221 BC and 1911 when the secondary society was
established. A population of sixty million was recorded during the 2nd
century BC but only 1.2 million remained at the beginning of the third century.
(Chen 1979) There was no single such drop recorded from 2200 BC to 476 BC when
this super state of primary societies was in place.
(4) The Primary Society and
the Primary Group
Primary society has long been
disintegrated in modern civilized society. Since the primary society is
determined by genetics and human genetics has not been substantially changed,
we can still see the shadow or ghost of primary society. It is the primary
group.
Charles
Horton Cooley (1864-1929) first saw the self as a social product that is formed
in the process of interaction within the primary group. Cooley called this kind
of self-conception the looking glass self, saying, “a person’s
perception of himself is determined by the way he imagines he appears to
others. Cooley was one of two theorists of the self who suggested that the me can be seen only through the eyes of others. The other
theorist was G.H. Mead. (1863-1931)
Cooley identified the primary group as “those characterized by intimate
face-to-face association and cooperation. They are primary in several senses
but chiefly in that they are fundamental in forming the social nature and
ideals of individuals. The result of intimate association, psychologically, is
a certain fusion of individualities in a common whole, so that one’s very
self, for many purposes at least, is the common life
and purpose of the group. Perhaps the simplest way of describing this wholeness
is by saying that it is a ‘we’”.
Thus
Cooley’s primary group is based on modern society that forms the
environment that nurtures the self. Modern primary groups have been penetrated
by the peripheral desires and social power of modern society, and thus Cooley
embraced competition and ambition.
The
egalitarian primary society was the only society our ancestors lived in until
some 100,000 years ago when agriculture appeared and the people began to settle
down. Even with the agricultural era, the primary society, bands and tribes,
was still the only society people knew until the chiefdoms of ranked society
and the states of stratified society started to appear five or six thousand
years ago. Once the first state structure appeared, it either assimilated or
conquered its neighbour by force.
In modern cities the crowded tenements and the general economic and
social confusion have seriously wounded the family and the neighbourhood.
Everybody has to adapt himself to the laws and the way of life before he can
survive in modern society. The primary society was the direct outgrowth of
human nature but it had too to adapt to modern life and became Cooley’s
primary group. In spite all of that, we can still clearly see the beauty of the
primary group in the family and the neighbourhood surrounding the family. Such
spirit was kept alive in the village community for the common people throughout
the Middle Age Europe. In today’s
The ancient face-to-face and heart-to-heart social interactions are
still much alive in the primary group. The atmosphere is warm, passionate, and
loving. It is a shelter against the inhumane elements of the secondary society
and it is the hospital for the human heart where the wounded soul is healed.
Only here a man is valued as a whole human being, no more and no less. Of
course with the highly mobile nature of our society, people can easily form
clubs, fraternal societies and the like that provide some congeniality and
intimacy.
References
Chen,
Chi, Ke 1983 Xifang Meishu Shihua [Western art
history].
Harris, Marvin, 1977, Cannibals and
Kings.
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