The Open SocietyWhat then is the philosophy we should adopt to interpret both past and present? I think it might be called a very traditional philosophy. It is the philosophy of what is sometimes called the Anglosphere, the philosophy of England, Scotland and America for the past 300 years. It is the philosophy that began with John Lock, went on through Adam Smith and David Hume down to Milton Friedman and Hayek, calling in on the way with the Austrian school of philosophy. What should we term this philosophy? I think that the best term is Karl Popper’s term of ‘The Open Society’, as opposed to a closed society, for I think it was this very quality of 'openness' that made the Industrial Revolution possible, and that distinguishes the open society from a 'closed' society such as communism; and I would suggest that the term 'Open Society ' should be used wherever possible to replace the term 'Communism'. How should we define this philosophy? It is, I think, a philosophy where freedom plays a major role. The main characteristic of primitive societies is that life is controlled by the state society in which one lives. Simple societies are kin-based societies, where life is dominated by the often complex rules and structure of the family and tribe. In more complex societies, the family and tribe are replaced by the state: one thinks of Pharaonic Egypt, a very complex but highly structured society, where everything flowed up to or down from the pharaoh. In civilised societies, everything is reversed. Instead of decisions being made at the centre, they are pushed out as far as possible to the periphery, where ordinary people living their own lives, can made their own decisions and choose their own life style. I believe that the crucial element in this is money: before money was invented, goods and services flow in regular paths either through the family or tribal structure, or up to the ruler as tribute, and down from the ruler as ‘gifts’. Once money comes along, much of this can be circumvented: goods can be exchanged from hand to hand around the periphery, without going anywhere near the centre. The old tightly knit social structure – the ‘caste society’ – is no longer necessary: freedom is born, or at least starts lurking in the air. Of course, not everything is bound up with the money nexus – perhaps indeed only a small minority of transactions go through the money system. But the idea, the concept is there and the prospect of a new freer and more flexible society becomes one of constant allurement. In this account therefore, I begin by looking at the functioning of primitive societies, both the simple tribal societies, and the more complex early state systems such as Egypt and Minoan Crete. I then look at the changes that took place with the advent of the market economy of Greece and Rome. We then look at its decline and fall in the Middle Ages, and finally at the triumphant re-appearance of the market economy which led to and accompanied the Industrial Revolution. It is an entirely new story: welcome to the new history of the world!
At this point, either: Jump right into the archaeology and history, and find out how primitive society works in the Trobriand Islands
Or: Find out more about the theory behind the Open society: Monetarism: How it has evolved, and what it means today The three bases for a market economy How can a market economy be distinguished, archaeologically? Barbarism and Civilisation: what should we call this Essay? First draft, 4th April 2006, amended 19th April 2006 |