Peaceful Societies: An Introduction

Abstract

This article is a tentative introduction to the idea of studying the social preconditions of peace by directing attention to a number of actual societies which are peaceful. These societies: 1) do not engage in violence against other groups; 2) have no civil wars or internal collective violence; 3) do not maintain a standing military-police organisation; 4) experience little or no inter-personal lethal violence; and, 5) lack certain forms of structural violence. The societies are: the Semai of Malaya, the Siriono of Eastern Bolivia, the Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari desert, the Mbuti Pygmies of equatorial Africa, the Copper Eskimo of Northern Canada, the Hutterites of North America, and the Islanders of Tristan da Cunha in the South Pacific. Various aspects of these groups were considered: type of economy, cosmology or world view, child rearing practices, conflict resolution methods, and their social control and decision-making processes. The societies displayed a number of commonalities along these dimensions. They are all small, face to face communities with a basically egalitarian social structure. Generally they lack formal patterns of ranking and stratification, place no restriction on the number of people capable of exercising authority or occupying positions of prestige and have economies which are based on generalised reciprocity. Only Tristan and the Hutterites produce a surplus. In none of these societies is there great material inequality between individuals. Sexism and to a lesser extent gerontocracy exist in all groups. It is suggested that it is possible for a society to have social justice without recourse to physical violence.