Re: Apes and the World System

Although the discussion is going a little far afield, let me mention Susan 
Bordo's discussion of male dominated 'ape-culture' in The Male Body.  Far from 
being a 'natural' model of behavior to compare human to, this culture can be 
understood as the product of a particular set of circumstances, and the 
relations that develop as the consequence of that culture.  It parallels many 
human cultures in that male bonding tends to produce a culture of violence and 
male domination.  If any difference exists between human culture and the 
culture of  other animals, it is not that human culture is a creative response 
to circumstances and animal culture is not(as Marx incorrectly indicates with 
his 'bees' analogy)--it is that humans have developed tools to reflect 
ethically and historically on their circumstances.  Does a culture in which 
some males get extra wives or exploit members of their group conform to a 
belief in the right of everyone to fulfillment or happiness?  I don't think 
apes!
 ask these sorts of questions--p
erhaps the apes at the bottom of the hierarchy do, but it appears they lack the 
tools to convince the rest of the group of their importance.   Humans do, and, 
at least since the enlightenment, more and more humans claim that they aspire 
to a culture with the ethical goals of universal happiness or at least some 
sort of opportunity for fullfilment (certainly does not mean that there has 
been clear movement in this direction, we must note).  Thus we can excise from 
our culture those elements (such as most 'male bonding' rituals like war, male 
dominated fraternities of business, knowledge, etc) that impede it.  And thus 
Fukuyama's efforts at sociobiological international relations (quite a leap 
from the Hegelianism of 'The End of History'!) are irrelevant.

Steve Sherman