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The Return of Patriarchy

What's on your mind?
General interest discussions, not necessarily related to depletion.

Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby mos6507 » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 05:27:48

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('katkinkate', '
')A group would be better prepared to face hard times, more flexible and resilient, if all adult members are prepared to do the necessary work.


This isn't like sharing chores. It's a matter of life and death. Political correctness goes out the window and he (or she) who demonstrates better competence as a warrior gets dibs. What that means is Ripley comes before Erkel, and Rambo comes before Paris Hilton. I'm not giving Erkel or Paris Hilton guard duty unless I have no choice. I don't care how eager they are to help out.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 10:37:55

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', ' ')I'm not giving Erkel or Paris Hilton guard duty unless I have no choice. I don't care how eager they are to help out.




Like you're in charge of giving someone guard duty anywhere! :lol:

More Zombie Horde fantasy.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 10:47:09

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayame', 'I') think that there will be a return to moderate patriachy out of necessity to protect the family and clan group



Why a "return to patriarchy" when clans existed without it just fine?
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby SeaGypsy » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 10:57:17

The posts relating to capacity for real productive work, regardless of gender, seem more relevant to future endgame survival scenarios than banter about stereotypes.
I think there is no evidence that either gender is more or less capable of real, hard productive work. It pays to remember that work is peak oil's essence and key challenge. Those of us who have taken the time to study it, regardless of being moderately corny or downright doomers understand that large chunks of what we currently take for granted will not be a part of our long term future as a species post peak oil. Hard work will once again be essential to our success, in the way it always has been/ right up unto the oil age where some of us have had the privelege of doing 'hard work' sitting at a desk or driving machines around. The oil age has skewed our status grouping utterly and profoundly. There are many millions of people at the top of the heap who would have not gotten anywhere near it in any other age. Phantom carrying capacity has also led to phantom status; in a very large way. The entire paradigm will be thrown out the window as energy (work) is entirely re-valued. I doubt gender has much to do with who will be winners or losers in the end game.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 11:07:21

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '
')I think there is no evidence that either gender is more or less capable of real, hard productive work.



100% agree.

Those who survive and thrive are likely to be those who work best with a group, either in a decision-making ("leadership") capacity, or as a cooperative helper, or skilled artisan (prima-donnas need not apply :), or as "muscle" of any gender.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby SeaGypsy » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 11:20:26

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '
')I think there is no evidence that either gender is more or less capable of real, hard productive work.



100% agree.

Those who survive and thrive are likely to be those who work best with a group, either in a decision-making ("leadership") capacity, or as a cooperative helper, or skilled artisan (prima-donnas need not apply :), or as "muscle" of any gender.


I think in a 'band' or microsocial grouping / neo tribal situation; the lines are much more blurred. 'Leaders' sitting on their butts while supplicants do the work will not remain leaders for long. Human nature has the systems of social organisation built in. They will re-emerge quite quickly when they are required and not suppressed. The best leaders are the hardest workers are the best artisans. It's the combination of skills, cooperative ability and creativity which naturallly elevate leaders when modern social inventions get out of the way. I think it is unlikely that anyone in such a situation is going to prevail as 'leader' on their leadership capacity as a stand alone ability. Leadership requires respect and in a band situation it cannot be forced or coerced, respect must be earned.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ayame » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 11:37:20

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayame', 'I') think that there will be a return to moderate patriachy out of necessity to protect the family and clan group


8O I had to think about that question a bit lol.
I guess it's because I've been conditioned to the opinion that when agriculture pushed in on the scene most human social organisations became more or less patriarchial. I guess maybe patriarchy isn't required to effectively defend the group (makes note in notepad). Maybe men would be happy to defend the group whether they make all the rules or not, do patriarchial societies produce more violent males? I think I remember reading somewhere very long ago that they do indeed produce more violence, does this give them an upper edge compared to other sorts of social organisations? There is so much not known! Hunter gatherers and horticulturalists had more gender equality apparently. I read this in a very big book long ago about male violence etc. and other articles on the internet.

Coming from where we are now perhaps past peak oil women will be able to hold onto their hard won freedoms and equality. I guess we will just have to wait and see. It's like trying to predict where a rain drop will flow down a pane, how will socities restructure themselves? Probably along a continuum. Which societies will be the winners? I think once again we will have to wait and see.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 12:44:22

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayame', ' ')I guess we will just have to wait and see.



I guess we can wait and see, saying "I don't mind giving up my freedom for protection" :( Or we can look at other models and see what is successful. I'm hoping people will not simply default to what they have been taught is the way to live, instead of looking at options.

I recommend Jason Godesky's series of essays about social organization, civilization, and collapse: http://tobyspeople.com/anthropik/thirty/index.html
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 12:47:18

I agree with what you're saying, SeaGypsy. :)

The ability to make a decision based on knowledge and experience, and the ability to defer to wiser heads, are also skills.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby culicomorpha » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 13:55:05

Getting back to the claim made by Last_Historian, that there will be a return to patriarchy, it would useful to look at the definition of the term:
Patriarchy
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '1') : social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line; broadly : control by men of a disproportionately large share of power
2 : a society or institution organized according to the principles or practices of patriarchy

My claim from the beginning was that I'm not seeing any evidence of a "return to patriarchy," largely because everywhere I look, I see women asserting their power. I can't fathom how men could possibly increase their disproportionate share of power from where we are now. If men derive their power from their breadwinner status - and this appears to be the case, then loss of outside employment ipso facto means they will have less power. Since I define freedom in the same way as Cicero, as "participation in power," then there is a direct relationship between the exercise of power and freedom.

The nuclear family is a very isolating form of social organization, and I just can't see it lasting very long, particularly if things break down as fast as many people here claim. Nuclear families will be sitting ducks in a context of gross violence. Larger organizations: clans, tribes, etc will offer much more in the way of security, and once the women are not solely dependent upon one man, they will naturally reassert their power in that context.

Partly I say this out of experience, being involved in a small community that is more or less equally split between men and women. The women have a lot of say about what happens on a day-to-day basis, and the men do not get what they want through the use of violence. Were they to do so, they would be banished. It has already happened. Instead, we try to draw upon the strengths of each particular person, regardless of gender. So again, I'm not seeing this "return to patriarchy" as a viable social organization going into the future. It seems to me a projection of what some men might like to see, but in my opinion it is delusional, and not based on facts or experience.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby mos6507 » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 16:32:28

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', '
')Since I define freedom in the same way as Cicero, as "participation in power," then there is a direct relationship between the exercise of power and freedom.


That's because crime and violence hasn't kicked in yet. Look at failed states or the inner city for what patriarchy means to men without jobs. Guns replace jobs as a symbol of status when the jobs run out. Just because your neck of the woods hasn't devolved to that point doesn't dismiss the fact that it happens in countless other places. What's interesting about the inner city is the preponderance of single mother households, BTW. Men tend to overcompensate to prove their manhood when they don't have a male role model in the home.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby mos6507 » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 16:37:41

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '
')Like you're in charge of giving someone guard duty anywhere! :lol:

More Zombie Horde fantasy.


No more fantasy than your Anthropik link with its vague platitudes about how we're going to be better as we somehow magically shift back to hunter-gatherer lives (replete with a die-off inbetween, conspicuously downplayed from the narrative).
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby SeaGypsy » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 16:56:22

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', '
')Since I define freedom in the same way as Cicero, as "participation in power," then there is a direct relationship between the exercise of power and freedom.


That's because crime and violence hasn't kicked in yet. Look at failed states or the inner city for what patriarchy means to men without jobs. Guns replace jobs as a symbol of status when the jobs run out. Just because your neck of the woods hasn't devolved to that point doesn't dismiss the fact that it happens in countless other places. What's interesting about the inner city is the preponderance of single mother households, BTW. Men tend to overcompensate to prove their manhood when they don't have a male role model in the home.


Yet more proof that stupid people are doing the most breeding.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 17:49:15

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '
')No more fantasy than your Anthropik link with its vague platitudes about how we're going to be better as we somehow magically shift back to hunter-gatherer lives



I don't agree with all of Godesky's conclusions, that's for sure. But he presents some interesting arguments supported by anthropology. In my opinion. :)
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 17:53:41

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', '
')Partly I say this out of experience, being involved in a small community that is more or less equally split between men and women. The women have a lot of say about what happens on a day-to-day basis, and the men do not get what they want through the use of violence. Were they to do so, they would be banished. It has already happened.



What if most of the men decided "times are tough" and patriarchy is the way forward? How would the group keep these types of men from grabbing power and turning the group into a chiefdom?
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby culicomorpha » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 18:03:50

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', '
')Since I define freedom in the same way as Cicero, as "participation in power," then there is a direct relationship between the exercise of power and freedom.


That's because crime and violence hasn't kicked in yet. Look at failed states or the inner city for what patriarchy means to men without jobs. Guns replace jobs as a symbol of status when the jobs run out. Just because your neck of the woods hasn't devolved to that point doesn't dismiss the fact that it happens in countless other places. What's interesting about the inner city is the preponderance of single mother households, BTW. Men tend to overcompensate to prove their manhood when they don't have a male role model in the home.


Wow Mos. You're really not very good at hiding your racism. Don't you really mean that people of color who live in large urban inner cities can find no other means of economic survival, so they turn to the drug trade with all the violence that entails? It's pretty convenient that it lets you completely ignore the systematic economic inequality along race lines that has driven men in the inner cities to this point.

This has nothing to do with patriarchy. These men who feel a need to resort to violence are not the leaders of their communities, nor their families. Their families are the gangs, and while no doubt gangs will have recruits for the foreseeable future, it is a system without any possibility of a future, since they can't be bothered with the responsibilities of raising the next generation. Additionally, they don't have any power other than what comes out the end of a gun and to a large degree it is aimed at other men, amounting to little more than territorial wars for the right to sell drugs. To apply this reasoning to the social structures likely to emerge in the face of energy, food, and water shortages is limited, at best. Your premise that the inner city is a good model for society in general is totally inapplicable if instead there is a mass migration out of the cities and to farms.

Will there be increased violence? Probably. Will it result in a "return to patriarchy"? I don't think so. Just because you say it, doesn't make it so. And yes, part of the reason I chose to live where I do is precisely because the population density is low, crime is relatively low, and there are abundant natural resources. I really doubt a Boston suburbanite has any chance whatsoever if the violence turns out to be as bad as you project. The future you envision is not patriarchy, it is warlordism, and warlords will first capitalize on the low-hanging fruit. And with all the stuff suburbanites have accumulated, they will definitely be hit first in such a scenario.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby culicomorpha » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 18:08:47

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', '
')Partly I say this out of experience, being involved in a small community that is more or less equally split between men and women. The women have a lot of say about what happens on a day-to-day basis, and the men do not get what they want through the use of violence. Were they to do so, they would be banished. It has already happened.



What if most of the men decided "times are tough" and patriarchy is the way forward? How would the group keep these types of men from grabbing power and turning the group into a chiefdom?


I have some difficulty imagining this situation, mainly because so much of the work on the farm is shared equally. It doesn't make a lot of sense to invoke some sort of assumption of patriarchal authority in such a situation. What would be the benefit? We already share everything we produce. Are you suggesting men will take everything for themselves, and leave their wives and children to starve? Sounds like a system with no future.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 18:11:21

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', 'Y')our premise that the inner city is a good model for society in general is totally inapplicable if instead there is a mass migration out of the cities and to farms.



I don't think he's saying the inner city is a "good model" I think he is suggesting the kind of stresses that create inner-city "patriarchy" and violence will likely spread out of the inner city to other areas because of loss of jobs.
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby Ludi » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 18:15:21

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')Are you suggesting men will take everything for themselves, and leave their wives and children to starve? Sounds like a system with no future.



I'm not suggesting it, personally. I'm trying to understand what sorts of situations might lead to the resurgence of patriarchy. I don't know why people would choose that kind of life, but then, I'm not a man, so I don't know that most men aren't just itching to become warlords. :?:
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Re: The Return of Patriarchy

Unread postby mos6507 » Mon 15 Feb 2010, 21:04:53

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
Wow Mos. You're really not very good at hiding your racism.


I didn't make a value judgment on the people of the inner-city. I just made an observation. The blame-game is a separate topic.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
This has nothing to do with patriarchy.


Then you're just arguing over semantics. I don't care what you call it. Roving gunmen is no picnic and I'd be hard-pressed to see how "matriarchy" could coexist amidst roving gunmen.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
Their families are the gangs


Gangs are as close to hunter gatherer "tribes" as you're going to find within civilization. Survival in tough situations is not pretty.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
it is a system without any possibility of a future, since they can't be bothered with the responsibilities of raising the next generation.


And yet gangs have persisted in many places. Were not the dark ages nothing but a bunch of roaming gangs (barbarians)? Seems like it could last long enough to pierce the tranquility of matriarchal enclaves.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
To apply this reasoning to the social structures likely to emerge in the face of energy, food, and water shortages is limited, at best.


What we will pass through on the way there is what I'm mainly concerned about. Let the survivors worry about what will emerge in the end.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
Your premise that the inner city is a good model for society in general is totally inapplicable if instead there is a mass migration out of the cities and to farms.


I didn't say it was a good model.

The pro vs. con of mass migration out of the cities is a separate thread, but obviously there is a good deal of debate over whether that will happen or whether it would be effective in mitigating overshoot and die-off.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
Just because you say it, doesn't make it so. And yes, part of the reason I chose to live where I do is precisely because the population density is low, crime is relatively low, and there are abundant natural resources.


Your neck of the woods would not be so virgin and bucolic post-reruralization.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
I really doubt a Boston suburbanite has any chance whatsoever if the violence turns out to be as bad as you project.


Just because I live here doesn't mean I'm trying to push the region as a sustainable mecca. It's better than Los Angeles, though.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
The future you envision is not patriarchy, it is warlordism


Who cares what you call it?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('culicomorpha', ' ')
and warlords will first capitalize on the low-hanging fruit. And with all the stuff suburbanites have accumulated, they will definitely be hit first in such a scenario.

In a world of overshoot, no stone will be left unturned just as the yeast in the petri dish won't leave any spot of sugar unconsumed. Don't lull yourself into complacency. You may have stacked the odds in your favor but the odds are still not that great that you can just avoid violence entirely.

Would I like to see a more constructive response on the downslope? Of course! But this is what I see in a BAU trajectory.

I think those who put a positive spin on collapse are doing so in order to soothe their own frayed nerves. The avoidance of accepting the likelihood of dystopian scenarios, IMHO, is a form of denial. I don't begrudge those who do this as a self-defense mechanism, but seriously, the adage "hope for the best, expect the worst" seems most appropriate here.

I'm not going to stop hoping, but I'm not going to blind myself to the negative scenarios either.
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