V. Gordon Childe on the Urban Revolution
According to V. Gordon Childe, what kinds of economic, social, political and cultural changes differentiate the urban revolution from the neolithic age which preceded it?
According to V. Gordon Childe, what kinds of economic, social, political and cultural changes differentiate the urban revolution from the neolithic age which preceded it?
When I was reading this, I was thinking of Childe’s “specialization” versus Marx’s “division of labor.” Division of labor is hammered into social science discourse as a totally Marxian idea, but people doing particular and unique things for their society predates Marx by thousands of years. The difference, as I see it, is that the specialization in urban settings was initially one of privilege: when the group could manufacture such a surplus that they could support a priest, a governing official, a mystic, etc. who did not contribute financially or materially, then they would. That is to say, in Childe’s model, efficiency yields specialization, whereas in Marx’s model, division of labor yields efficiency.
It is never too early for Marx. I like your comparison because it shows the potentially liberating aspects of specialization. That is, it allows people to develop individual talents. I think we talk about the division of labor in relation to Marx because of his idea of alienation, which describes this division of labor combined with a newly developing industrial economy, in a slightly less optimistic formulation.
Greg
I like the way Childe show the diferences in the stages of development , especially the paleolithic and neolithic . For example the uniqueness of art in the neolithic and way better than the paleotithic.
I agree, in principle, with the Marx comparison. Marx wrote a lot about work in a capitalist society and how capitalism creates a dissconect with the work that many do. Marx argues that the division of labor is a negativebecause it seperates us from our creativity. This mirrors some of Childe's thoughts on the oldest cities: "The earliest citiesillustrate a first approximation to an organic solidarity based upon a functional complimentarity and interdependence between all its members... however... the bulk of the social surplus, and the vast majority who were left with a bare subsistence and effectivly excluded from the spiritual benefits of civilization."
Comments
I believe the main difference between the neolithic age and the urban revolution (according to Childe) is that craftsmen and other skilled workers no longer had to produce their own crops. Their trade could be sustained by the rest of the community.
Posted by: Dorian Stanasel | January 18, 2007 03:12 AM
The main difference, which Childe breaks down into his ten points, is that surplus was created and utilized. Cities or urban areas were able to produce more than what they needed with the advent of irrigation and other agriculturaltechnologies. That surplus paved the way for denser population, great architecture, specialization, writing, scientific advances, the "ruling class", trade etc...
Posted by: Tavia Parker | January 18, 2007 01:15 PM
Since we covered this is class do we have to point out more comparisons between the two?
Posted by: DaveC | January 18, 2007 08:49 PM