Week 1

This week we discussed Patricia Crone’s “Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World”, in which the author discusses how society developed from primitive to reliant on trade and complex systems. Crone’s mention of the dilemma of the golden goose interested me greatly, she defined the dilemma as when “[…] one cannot specialize in the production of wealth without becoming both highly desirable and defenseless; the very fact that labour is divided up dictates that gold-bearing creatures are weak” (Crone 21). The juxtaposition of wealth being equal to vulnerability or defenselessness when it is usually associated with power and control is very interesting. Wealth is indeed highly desirable and that is what makes it dangerous, the richest individuals often have others hired to defend them physically, socially, and monetarily. This itself reveals the cyclical nature of wealth, it can be passed down through family lines and solidify how they are portrayed in history. With wealth being somewhat easier to obtain due to technological innovations it will be interesting to see how the dilemma of the golden goose will be discussed in the future when analyzing history. Technology as a form of wealth has continued to develop, however forms of technology have become more accessible to the general public and altered who and what is viewed as the golden goose. This reading solidified to me how history is continuous and although aspects of society change and develop the core of society, especially post industrial society, is hierarchy, wealth, and labor roles.

Bibliography:

Crone, Patricia. Pre-Industrial Societies: Anatomy of the Pre-Modern World. London: Oneworld, 2015.