The hierarchies of gender and class are what interested me most about beginning of the earliest civilizations. As discussed before, the Paleolithic societies were some of the most egalitarian societies in the history of the world. It seemed that as civilization grew and things began to grow more complicated and complex, the equal roles of human beings began to dissipate. Inequality is now a very natural thing in our industrialized, technological societies and while it is something that is considered a concern, it is also something that humans have almost come to accept. Similar to today's hierarchy, the upper class was composed of people who did not have to do physical labor. On the other hand of the spectrum was the farmers, whose "surplus production supported the upper classes." Even further down on the hierarchical scale, however, were the slaves. Slaves emerged at the same time that civilization did, says Strayer in his book. Things were very simple back during the Paleolithic era and when new civilizations began to emerge, things became more and more intricate.
In terms of gender, historians believe that the inequalities became more apparent as civilizations grew, similar to the class hierarchy. They mentioned how things such as warfare caused women to slowly lose their equal status that they once shared with the men. Because men are more capable of things such as fighting, if only due to physical advantages, the women would stay home and take care of the kinds and the home. Sound familiar? While it does seem to make practical sense for the time and situation, the inequality of both class and gender was just something that skyrocketed way out of hand. Unfortunately, humans began to take advantage of others and decided that slaves were a good idea, as well as the unequal treatment of women over the years. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see where such disparities came from and what their foundation is rooted in.
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