Naming the Cultural Forces That Push Us Toward War

Abstract

Anthropology and archaeology have demonstrated that human societies can pass hundreds and even thousands of years in peace. Patriarchal cultures, however, go to war rather regularly. Militarism and warfare are continual features of a patriarchal society because they reflect and instill patriarchal values and fulfill essential needs of such a system. Men under patriarchy must prove dominance and control, must distance their character from that of "lowly" women, must survive the toughest violent initiation to enter full manhood, must shed the sacred blood of the hero, and must collaborate with death in order to hold it at bay. Such patriarchal pressures on men have traditionally reached resolution in ritual fashion on the battle-field. Unless peace efforts address the cultural pressures as well as the economic and political factors pushing us toward war, we will be unable to build a lasting peace.

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