Sedentary agriculture drove the shift from egalitarian mutiualism to state hierarchy.

Evidence

If we plot the influence of egalitarian mutualism on human social organization throughout history, we obtain a peculiar U-shaped curve (Boehm 1999). Starting approximately from 10,000 BC, egalitarian nomadic societies were progressively displaced by sedentary agriculturalists. Agriculture co-evolved with a new social organization based on caste systems, centralized power, and monopoly of violence – in short, the birth of the state (Dubreuil 2010a). This step is not inconsistent with Baumard et al.’s explanatory framework: The new states capitalized on intensive production and food storage. Interestingly, they emerged in highly fertile areas surrounded by arid land, which reduced mobility and the range of outside options. The necessity to defend fertile land and stored food encouraged the creation of a warrior class, which in turn facilitated the maintenance of social order. Demographic growth and low mobility, moreover, created massive coordination problems that were best solved by centralized monarchies. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 447

Categorization

• XREF: Directly parallels the ‘On Sacrifice’ article’s account of how stratified societies stabilize themselves; also connects to Diamond’s Guns Germs and Steel logic about fertile-land geography shaping social outcomes. — connects to: Religious worship may have driven the agricultural revolution rather than resulting from it.; Farming created a food surplus that enabled larger communities to form. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 127; Mode of production can assign dominance to politics or religion in different epochs
• ADDENDUM: Supports the On Sacrifice thesis about stratified societies: the fertile-cropland-warrior-class-coordination loop is exactly the kind of structural account of state-level hierarchy that article engages.

Related

• Religious worship may have driven the agricultural revolution rather than resulting from it. (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Farming created a food surplus that enabled larger communities to form. #expands (0.85) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 127
• Mode of production can assign dominance to politics or religion in different epochs #expands (0.75)