The Three Stages of Cultural Evolution

by Andrew Maxwell

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All human societies fall within one of these three stages:

Tribalism:  Where it all starts.  

This is the most likely, natural state of human society, the state of human society at rest.  All societies of the world have either been at this stage or are there now.  

Dictatorship:  Congealment

Congealment occurs when tribes fuse into a nation, invariably by the force of one dominant tribal personality.  

The dictatorship stage cannot be skipped; A group can not jump from tribalism to pluralism without a long, unifying, authoritarian nation-building period in between.  

Most congealment begins to disintegrate after the unifier dies, and the entity breaks apart and goes back to its pre-congealed, natural, tribal condition.  

If the unifier or one of their descendants is lucky and wise and institutes laws that survive him/her, the congealed entity may survive the unifier.  

Pluralism:  Fermentation

After centuries of congealment, if the culture of law has taken root, a nation may become liberal.  This is the least likely of outcomes.  There are many forces that always threaten to take a nation apart.