Christopher Boehm

Hierarchy in the Forest

An astute ethnographer listens as people express approval or disapproval of different kinds of behavior, then from these conversations builds a composite picture of the local ethos. Speaking on behalf of the Alaskan Eskimo group he studied, Jenness (1922:93-94) tells us: 'Everyman in his eyes has the same rights and the same privileges as every other man in the community. One may be a better hunter, or a more skillful dancer, or have greater control over the spiritual world, but this does not make him more than one member of a group in which all are free and theoretically equal.'

Implicit in this description is the primus inter pares political stance discussed by Fried (1967). Foragers are not intent on true and absolute equality, but on a kind of mutual respect that leaves individual autonomy intact. There are various ways of expressing this theme, and they can be fairly indirect. For example, foragers may say that a respected leader should be generous and even-tempered, or they may express the same thing negatively, saying that a respected leader is not stingy or prone to fits of anger. In either case, they mean that he should not use his influential position to exploit others economically or to dominate them personally.

At stake is individual autonomy, and Gardner's (1991) survey demonstrates that foragers are predictably concerned with their autonomy and work to preserve it. As one example, the traditional Pintupi Aborigines in Australia placed a high value on personal autonomy (Myers 1980:313) and were able to express this position quite eloquently. In my opinion, nomadic foragers are universally—and all but obsessively—concerned with being free from the authority of others. That is the basic thrust of their political ethos, which applies equally to all the main political actors.

An ethos is fascinating because it is not necessarily a statement about an actual state of affairs, but a set of strongly held moralistic positions about how life should be. Hunter-gatherers may speak abstractly about personal freedom, but often they prefer to deal in specifics, as when they detail desirable or undesirable traits in leaders. Their political blueprint is highly practical, and the adverse political forces they face—forces that make for an increase in hierarchy and a decrease in personal autonomy—can become formidable. A potential bully always seems to be waiting in the wings, and people are prepared by their ethos to deal with such a threat summarily. Bullying—outside the family—is highly unethical.

Ethical values stem from a people's sense of the social problems they habitually face: for example, if murder did not exist there would be no 'Thou shalt not kill.' There appears to be a universal short list of values that all cultures share: negative ones that proscribe killing, seriously deceptive lying, or theft within the group, and positive ones that call for altruism and cooperation for the benefit of the whole community (Campbell 1975). However, the political values found in an egalitarian ethos are far from being universal. In some larger societies, like chiefdoms, both hierarchy and strong political authority are readily countenanced by public opinion, and statements implying that 'firsts' must also be 'equals' are never heard. A handful of sedentary foragers also lack the egalitarian ethos and support a hierarchical order. Yet the primus inter pares approach to political life is widespread. Indeed, this egalitarian approach appears to be universal for foragers who live in small bands that remain nomadic, suggesting considerable antiquity for political egalitarianism.