Comment on How would an anarchist society work?
early_riser@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Take this for what it is, the thoughts of an internet stranger who’s not terribly well read on the topic. I think it wouldn’t work. I think hierarchy is so utterly baked into our primate brains that if we destroyed it, it would just come back and be even worse, because now it’s not official and nobody’s accountable.
Takapapatapaka@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 1 week ago
I disagree, but for different reasons depending on what you call hierarchy.
If it is trusting some people more than yourself, then i would have called it authority it is not exclusive of anarchy. Of course anarchy wants to abolish power, and therefore some authority. But it also recognizes everyone’s freedom to follow someone they think is more knowledgeable or skilled, which would fall under this definition of authority. Like trust the architect when building the house, but not the town mayor saying they don’t like the house.
If it is pyramidal social structure, then historical clues tend to show it wrong. For most of its history, humanity was nomadic so if you disliked some system you could probably just leave, or be abandoned if people disliked you. Not the most stable basis to build power structures. Also, i believe traces found of care and cooperation are much older than those of violence and murder.
And overall i really dislike the idea of such advanced things being baked in humans. Because it mostly reflect actual state of things rather than actual natural instincts, and even if it were true, it wouldn’t open the possibility for people who do not have it baked in them. Just like monogamy or sedentariness : sure it’s widespread, but it’s not actually baked in and it excludes people living differently.
Now if your point was to say that people have learned to live with hierarchy and it would be hard to change that, then 100% agree.