Dr. Brian Hayden has proposed the concept of an aggrandizer
as a personality type in his article “Pathways to power: Principles
for creating socioeconomic inequalities” in Foundation of Social Inequality edited by T. D. Price and G. Feinman.
In
one of Dr. Hayden’s papers he writes:
“Anthropological
theories of elites (leaders) in traditional societies tend to
focus
on how elites can be viewed as helping the community at large. The
origin
of elites is cast in functionalist or communitarian terms (viewing
societies
as adaptive systems). A minority opinion argues that elites were
not
established by communities for the community benefit, but emerged
as a
result of manipulative strategies used by ambitious, exploitative
individuals
(aggrandizers). While the communitarian perspective may
be
appropriate for understanding simple hunter/gatherer communities, I
argue
that elites in complex hunter/gatherer communities and horticultural communities
operate much more in accordance with aggrandizer principles, and that it is
their pursuit of aggrandizer self-interests that really explains the initial
emergence of elites. This occurs preferentially under conditions of resource
abundance and involves a variety of strategies used to manipulate community
opinions, values, surplus production, and surplus use.” 1
Pg.
101.
It is
a joy to have my mind opened to new concepts. The concept of the aggrandizer
adds a whole new component to my attempt to understand what makes my world
tick.
By
incorporating the aggrandizer as a human personality type, the five natural
factors listed in my “We are here” essay takes on a whole new dimension.
* All life reproduces to the maximum their
environment allows(population density).
* All life will use all the resources in its
environment to promote its present living (population pressure).
* Much of life manifest an us against them
protectionism (even plants release poisons to the soil to protect their
territory. This is the convergence of territoriality (which is manifest by all
life) and the need to belong for this dependently social animal called human.
* We are immersed in an environment of our own
making and our "brilliance" threatens us with unintended consequences
(whether agriculture or nuclear power).
* Groups larger than the small group of
30 to 200 people, which is the social environment in which we evolved for a
million years, creates power-over and inequality.
Aggrandizers
were fostered by abundance that was connected to the development of private
property as well as changing the ethic of mandatory sharing in the small
community. The development of food
storage techniques gave the aggrandizer control. Some of the techniques Dr. Hayden believes the
aggrandizers use for power and control are:
“● The hosting of feasts with obligatory
reciprocity as a way to indebt
people.
● The creation of wealth (or prestige) objects used to
validate social
transactions
with obligatory returns, thus creating debts and forcing
people
to produce surpluses.
● The establishment of marriage prices (in food and wealth
objects)
required
for obtaining spouses and reproducing.
● The investment of food and wealth in children via
maturation
ceremonies
to increase their marriage desirability and marriage
prices.
● The co-opting of opposition through food and wealth
dispensations.
Other
strategies included the restriction of access to the supernatural,
separation
from others via distinctive dress or etiquette, the extension
of
kinship networks, the creation of elaborate taboos and a system of
differential
penalties for those in power versus the disenfranchised, the
manipulation
of cultural conventions and values to serve aggrandizer
interests,
and the manipulation of conflicts and warfare to serve self interests.“ 1
Pg.
116 (see
Hayden, 2001).
Dr.
Hayden proposes that the aggrandizer arises genetically among all human
groups. In the simple hunter/gatherer
communities, the small size of the group contains the behaviors of the
aggrandizer and allows for egalitarian sharing of resource and power. Larger groupings - complex hunter/gatherer
communities, horticultural communities – and resource abundance allows the
aggrandizer personality type to find fuller expression.
Hayden
associates the behavior of the aggrandizer with the psychopath as studied and
defined by Robert Hare2. Here are some of the descriptors of the
psychopath.
“lack
of remorse or empathy
shallow emotions
manipulativeness
lying
egocentricity
glibness
low frustration tolerance
episodic relationships
parasitic lifestyle
persistent
violation of social norms”
The
aggrandizer will pursue wealth and power no matter the consequences to the
environment. He or she will colonize
including slaughtering of locals for access to resource. The aggrandizer will take advantage of the
weak (elderly or disabled) no matter the results. The extreme aggrandizer will do what he or
she feels needs to be done for their own benefit.
Dr.
Hayden proposes that aggrandizers have been the major change agent for humanity
since complex human organizations arose. In a global population of seven billion, there
are simply countless niches for the practice of accumulation of power via
manipulation. The formation of
aggrandizers resists modification or constraint. The global economics and the global political
interplays dictate consumption and consumerism to maintain the power of the
elite. This promotes a world of
mini-aggrandizers or mimickers.
We face the convergence of serious
factors, perhaps the result of a long history of aggrandizers at every level
and their wannabes. Climate change,
population overshoot, energy, acidification of the oceans, species extinction,
droughts, floods, massive storms, global environmental degradation, resource
wars - each of these alone has societal challenging implications much less as
an interlinked set. The aggrandizers
from the peak of the power pyramid and lower, if unconstrained, become a
deterrent to change in times of societal crisis.
These times we are
facing right now.
1 “Big Man, Big Heart? The
Political Role of Aggrandizers in Egalitarian and
Transegalitarian
Societies” Brian Hayden. From: For the Greater Good of All: Perspectives on Individualism, Society, and
Leadership (Jepson Studies in Leadership) Edited
by Forsyth, Donelson R. and Hoyt, Crystal L. 2010.
2 Hare, Robert. 1999. Without Conscience: The Disturbing
World of the Psychopaths Among Us. Guilford Press.
Aggrandizer strategies
2012 Brian Hayden, Neil Canuel, and
Jennifer Shanse
“What
was brewing in the Natufian? An archaeological assessment of brewing technology
in the Epipaleolithic.” Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. DOI
10.1007/s10816-011-9127-y Posted 31 January 2012.
2011 Hayden, Brian and Suzanne
Villeneuve
“A
century of feasting studies.” Annual Review of Anthropology 40:433–449.
2011 Hayden, Brian
“Big
man, big heart? The political role of aggrandizers in egalitarian and
transegalitarian societies.” In D. Forsyth and C. Hoyt (Eds.) For the
Greater Good of All: Perspectives on Individualism, Society, and Leadership.
Palgrave Macmillan: New York. pp. 101–118.
2011 Hayden, Brian
“Feasting
and social dynamics in the Epipaleolithic of the Fertile Crescent.” In G.
Aranda, S. Monton-Subias, and M. Sanchez (Eds.). Oxbow Books: Oxford. pp.
30–63.
2010 Hayden, Brian
“El
surgimiento de cazadores-recolectores complejos. Una visión desde el Northwest
Plateau.” In A. Vila and J. Estévez (Eds.), La Excepción y la Norma.
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Treballs d’Ethnoarqueologia
8:87–110, 219–21.
2010 Hayden, Brian and Suzanne
Villeneuve
“Who
benefits from complexity? A view from Futuna.” In T. D. Price and G. Feinman
(Eds.) Pathways to Power. Springer: New York. pp. 95–145.
2010 Hayden, Brian and Suzanne Villeneuve
“Astronomy
in the Upper Paleolithic?” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 21:331–55.
2009 Hayden, Brian
"Funerals
as Feasts: Why Are They So Important?" Cambridge Archaeological Journal
19:29-52.
2009 Hayden, Brian
"The
Proof is in the Pudding: Feasting and the Origins of Domestication." Current
Anthropology 50:597-601, 708-9.
2008 Hayden, Brian
L’Homme
et l’Inégalité. CNRS Editions: Paris
2004 Hayden, Brian
“Sociopolitical
Organization in the Natufian: A View from the Northwest.” In Christophe Delage
(Ed.) The Last Hunter-Gatherer Societies in the Near East. BAR
International Series: Oxford. Pp. 263–308.
2004 Hayden, B., and Ron Adams
“Ritual
Structures in Transegalitarian Communities.” In William Prentiss and Ian Kuijt
(Eds.) Complex Hunter-Gatherers: Evolution and Organization of Prehistoric
Communities on the Plateau of Northwestern North America. University of
Utah Press: Salt Lake City. Pp. 84–102.
2004 Hayden, B., and Sara Mossop
Cousins
“The
social dimensions of roasting pits in a winter village site.” In William
Prentiss and Ian Kuijt (Eds.) Complex Hunter-Gatherers: Evolution and
Organization of Prehistoric Communities on the Plateau of Northwestern North
America. University of Utah Press: Salt Lake City. Pp. 140–154.
2003 Hayden, Brian
“Were
luxury foods the first domesticates? Ethnoarchaeological perspectives from
Southeast Asia.” World Archaeology 34:458–469.
2003 Hayden, Brian
“Hunting
and feasting: Health and demographic consequences.” Before Farming
2002/3–4(3) www.waspjournals
2001 Hayden, Brian
“Richman,
Poorman, Beggarman, Chief: The Dynamics of Social Inequality.” In G. Feinman,
and T. Price (eds.), Archaeology at the Millenium: A sourcebook. Kluwer
Academic/Plenum Publishers: New York. Pp. 231–272.
2001 Dietler, Michael, and Brian Hayden
“Digesting
the Feast – Good to Eat, Good the Drink, Good to Think: An Introduction.” In M.
Dietler and B. Hayden (eds.), Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic
Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power. Smithsonian Institution Press:
Washington, DC. Pp. 1–20.
2001 Hayden, Brian
“Fabulous
feasts: A prolegomenon to the importance of feasting.” In M. Dietler and B.
Hayden (eds.), Feasts: Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food,
Politics, and Power. Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, DC. Pp.
23–64.
2001 Dietler, Michael and Brian Hayden
(eds.)
Feasts:
Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives on Food, Politics, and Power. Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington, DC.
2000
(Ed.)
The ancient past of Keatley Creek. Volume II: Socioeconomy. Archaeology
Press: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC.
1997 Owens, D’Ann, and Brian Hayden
“Prehistoric
rites of passage: A comparative study of transegalitarian hunter-gatherers.” Journal
of Anthropological Archaeology 16: 121–161.
1996
“Feasting
in prehistoric and traditional societies.” In Polly Wiessner and W.
Schiefenhovel (editors), Food and the status quest. Berghahn Books:
Providence. Pp. 127–147.
1995
“The
emergence of prestige technologies and pottery.” In William Barnett, and John
Hoopes (editors), The emergence of pottery. Smithsonian Institution
Press: Washington, D. C. Pp. 257–266.
1995
“Pathways
to power: Principles for creating socioeconomic inequalities.” In T. D. Price
and G. Feinman, Foundation of Social Inequality. Plenum: New York. Pp.
15–85.
1994
“Competition,
labor, and complex hunter-gatherers.” In Ernest Burch, Jr. and Linda Ellanna
(editors), Key issues in hunter-gatherer research. Berg Publications:
Oxford. Pp. 223–239.
