Saturday, March 15, 2014

In Guns, Germs, and Steel, where does Diamond present evidence for a connection between food production and social development?

To see Diamond's evidence, you need to look in Part Three
of the book, particularly Chapters 12 through 14.  This part of the book is entitled
"From Food to Guns, Germs, and Steel."  This means that it explains the way that food
production (agriculture) leads to things like writing, technology, and complex
government.  These can be seen as types the "societal development" that you ask
about.


In these chapters, Diamond offers evidence from all
over the world to defend his claims.  He cites, for example, the connection between
agriculture and writing in Sumer, Mexico, and China.  He argues that areas that had food
production from early times developed technology sooner.  Finally, he uses societies
from Hawaii to South Africa as evidence that agriculture leads to complex systems of
government.


The evidence that Diamond offers is spread over
these three chapters and includes references to many different
societies.

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