In a closely reasoned argument, Eisler maintains that compelling evidence now exists from excavations of Neolithic human communities (ca. 10,000 BC). that in this era a "partnership" form of social organization was the norm.
It is hypothesized is that in a sweeping turn of events (over several millennia), early partnership societies may have been overrun and conquered by warlike nomadic bands, whose own mode of social organization was based on the dominator model. Bit by bit partnership societies lost ground such that by four thousand years ago, an historic defeat of partnership culture had occurred around the world.
Eisler stresses that a fundamental characteristic of the conquering civilization was that it "valued the destructive power of the blade."
"[The invaders} characteristically acquired wealth, not by developing technologies of production, but through ever more effective technologies of destruction."
This overarching worldview has been with us ever since.
Theory
Based on evidence drawn from disciplines ranging from archaeology and anthropology to linguistics and DNA studies, a new, more accurate picture of human cultures through time and place is emerging.
Eisler's theory of cultural evolution is sometimes referred to as Cultural Transformation Theory. Drawing from new approaches such as self-organizing systems, non-linear dynamics, and chaos theories, it is based on new understandings of how complex living systems maintain themselves and how they can undergo transformative change during periods of significant disequilibrium, such as our present era.
We are beginning to grasp that, while technological advances are rapidly destabilizing our old patterns, they do not by themselves determine the direction of cultural change. The overall direction of cultural evolution depends on whether we have a partnership- or a domination-oriented social structure. If you change the deeper cultural assumptions that govern the development and use of technology, you change the impact of those technologies. However, accomplishing a shift of this magnitude will require a momentous reevaluation of cultural values and structures.
Eisler's research shows that whole-systems change is fundamentally driven by shifts in the configuration of our human-to-human and human-to-Earth relationships, including our families, our language and our categories for thinking, as well as our beliefs and the stories we learn about "human nature."
This research differs from earlier approaches in significant ways. It looks at the whole of our history, including prehistory, and at the whole of our social systems, rather than marginalizing or ignoring the majority of humanity, women and children.
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