Western Civ 101
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1. In the Time article what change does Barbara Ehrenreich suggest regarding our understanding of women's roles in hunting societies?  What evidence does she present to support her theories?  Do you find her argument convincing--why or why not?

2. How does Thomas Powers summarize the argument made by Barbara Ehrenreich in Blood Rites?
 
3. What additional idea does Powers add to Ehrenreich’s theory of war?

4. What does Powers say is the major weakness of Ehrenreich’s theory of war?  Do you agree?  Why or why not?
 
5. Consider these two traditional perspectives on war:

• Sigmund Freud,writing soon after the carnage of WWI, argued that war is part of human psychology, that the lawless, violent urges people subdue in order to make social life possible find a necessary relief in the mass murder of war.  “The upshot of [my] observations . . . is that there is no likelihood of our being able to suppress humanity’s [innate] aggressive tendencies,” cited in Arther Ferrill, The Origins of War, p. 14. 

• On the other hand, there is a strong pacifist tendency in modern history that insists that war is avoidable, that it is not a necessary part of human nature.  For example, pacifist Margaret Mead (and others), also writing in the era of WWI, argued that war is the result of economic and political causes, and thus that if those economic factors could be overcome, war itself could be avoided.  She wrote a famous essay entitled, “Warfare is only an invention—not a Biological Necessity.”