On trying to find general rules about war and culture, well, it's
not an easy task. I certainly did not mean to imply that busy
people are necessarily peaceful nor that poor people are
necessarily peaceful. I also don't think I would use either the
Northwest Coast nor the California Indians as examples for general
rules because I think both cultural areas are very unusual. Most
societies that are as densely populated as those two areas are
agricultural, but neither the NWC nor Calif. were agricultural.
I've been reading up on human aggression recently. I like Ashley
Montagu, an anthropologist, and Erich Fromm, a psychoanalyst,
because they both make excellent cases for human aggression's being
learned, rather than innate. They argue against Freud, Lorenz,
Ardrey, Morris and others of the instinctivist mindset.
I don't want to trivialize the great works of Montagu, but I think
I can summarize his theories, for which he presents a great deal of
sound evidence:
1. Human aggression is learned. Otherwise, how could there be
any peaceful societies? And there are many. Also, how could we
explain that *most* people never commit violent acts? Why would we
need to train soldiers to kill, if violent aggression were innate? [1]
2. In general, humans don't have instincts. They have capacities
for a variety of behaviors, and these are either developed or
undeveloped depending on learning. There may be individual
predispositions to choose some behaviors over others, but learning
is still paramount. If this were not the case, then how would we
explain the diversity among the cultures of the world? [1]
3. Within modern society, human males sometimes become violently
aggressive under over-crowded and deprived conditions. Montagu
emphasizes that over-crowding alone does not seem to result in high
crime. [1]
4. Societies that maintain peaceful attitudes raise their children
with warmth, kindness and indulgent care until the children are
independent. They tend to allow younger children to act out
childish frustration and aggression on older children, who just
laugh and tolerate the behavior. In time, the behavior is outgrown. [2]
Fromm goes into great detail about the character of destructive
people. He also distinguishes between benign aggression, which
includes both self-defense and self-assertion, versus malignant
aggression. He identifies two major reasons from childhood for
malignant aggression. One is abusive parenting and the other is a
lack of stimulation or room to grow. However, I am greatly
simplifying Fromm's theories which tend to be complex in response
to a complex problem. [3]
Fromm cites 30 "primitive" societies and classifies them into A)
Life-Affirmative, B) Nondestructive-Aggressive and C) Destructive.
A includes the Zuni Pueblo, Mountain Arapesh, Bathonga, Aranda,
Semangs, Todas, Polar Eskimos and Mbutus.
System A is marked by trust, gentleness, confidence, cooperation,
good humor and a general lack of violence, crime, war, and greed.
Women and children are valued, sex is accepted, and no group is
humilated or exploited. [3]
B includes the Greenland Eskimos, Bachigas, Ojibwas, Ifugaos,
Manus, Samoans, Dakotas, Maoris, Tasmanians, Kazaks, Ainus, Crows,
Incas and Hottentots. Fromm was unable to decide whether the Hopi
more closely resembled Group A or B. [3]
"System B could perhaps be best characterized by stating that it
is imbued with a spirit of male aggressiveness, individualism, the
desire to get things and to accomplish tasks." [3] Although wars
occur, the people are not characterized by cruelty, destructiveness
or "exaggerated suspiciousness" the way they are in System C, nor
is war a central activity. But the people aren't as gentle and
trusting as in System A. [3]
C includes the Dobus, Kwakiutl, Haida, Aztec, Witoto and Ganda.
The Kwakitutl and Haida are both Northwest Coast tribes. System C
is "characterized by much interpersonal violence, destructiveness,
aggression, and cruelty, both within the tribe and against others,
a pleasure in war, maliciousness, and treachery. The whole
atmosphere of life is one of hostility, tension, and fear." [3]
So, while some of have been referring to both System B and System C
as "warlike", to others of us, only System C is really "warlike".
Anyway, I stand by my conclusion that *most* tribes or culture
areas north of Mexico, except the Northwest Coast were basically
non-destructive. It is a generalization because email is
restricted in length, but I think it would be a worse
generalization to characterize all Native Americans by the Aztecs.
References
1. Ashley Montagu, _The Nature of Human Aggression_, NY: Oxford
University Press, 1976.
2. Ashley Montagu, ed., _Learning Non-Aggression: The Experience of
Non-Literate Societies_, NY: Oxford University Press, 1978.
3. Erich Fromm, _The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness_, NY: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, 1973.