Pre-industrial societies and strategies for the exploitation of resources: A theoretical framework for understanding why some settlements are resilient and some settlements are vulnerable to crisis

This thesis tries to provide an answer to one significant question. Why in the pre-industrial period were some settlements resilient and stable over the long term while other settlements were vulnerable to crisis? All pre-industrial societies had to face economic, environmental, and agricultural challenges at some point, which could come in the form of famine, war, expropriation, flooding, failed harvests, pestilence, harsh taxation, or the disappearance of valuable resources in the pursuit of commercial gain. How then can we explain why some societies were able to overcome or negate these problems, while other societies proved susceptible to failure, as settlements contracted, stagnated, or even disappeared entirely? This thesis places the different arrangements of societies at the forefront of the theoretical framework. It is suggested first of all that pre-industrial society can be divided into four basic types, based on an assessment of how egalitarian or polarised (a test of equality), and dynamic or persistent (a test of change) a number of its key configurations were (property, power, commodity markets, modes of exploitation). Particular ‘types of societies’ ended up exploiting resources in different ways. ‘Egalitarian-persistent’ societies exploited their resources using protectionist strategies with one eye on risk avoidance. As a result, they produced resilient settlements over the long-term, particularly in the face of exogenous crises such as harvest failures and pestilences. ‘Polarised-dynamic’ societies exploited their resources using short-termist strategies with interest groups reaping as much as they possibly could from finite resources, at the same time exposing the wider population to risk. As a result, they produced settlements which could rise up quickly through short-term economic gain, but also were susceptible to rapid decline. ‘Egalitarian-dynamic’ societies exploited their resources flexibly by responding to change – taking production in new directions. As a result, they produced adaptable settlements which could grow organically and furthermore got their resilience from the inherent adaptability of society. Finally, ‘polarised-persistent’ societies exploited their resources using repression and restriction. As a result, they produced entirely dependent settlements which could benefit from structures necessary for long-term resilience (laid down through coercion), but at the same time faced inbuilt restrictions on decision-making processes, which could lead to a failure to adapt to new conditions, and exposure to settlement decline. This thesis has tried to move away in its philosophy from much contemporary thinking which suggests that the world’s problems can be solved through a relentless pursuit of economic growth. There is still a perception that sustainable and stable human habitation over the long term can be achieved through reliance on technological innovations or by throwing large amounts of capital at impoverished regions, in the recent trend towards big business philanthropy. The basic principle behind the framework offered in this research focusing on the pre-industrial world, however, is that the configuration of society was more important for establishing resilient settlement development – a sentiment which I believe may be applicable for modern-day collapses in habitation. A big part of societies’ capacity to withstand environmental and economic crises is connected with equality: not just in the distribution of wealth or land, but an egalitarian distribution of power and involvement in essential decision-making processes, which determine the ways society is able to exploit and care for its resources.