Situating human generations in Big History Peter D Nixon

Abstract Big History provides the cosmology for the present work in which the disproportionate impact of inequality on today’s young generation is contextualised by examination of three types of societies, past empires, present capitalism and one pre-colonisation indigenous society, over time periods of more than centuries. Generations are seen as demographically referenced social locations like gender and race and at any one time several interdependent generations exist. Other referents include the work of JS Mill, his controversial ethology project, the history of ideas, the non-identity problem and social anthropology. The article concludes by anticipating a tentative reconstruction of Mill’s ethology based on advances in social science in the century and a half since his time.

Correspondence | Peter Nixon, [email protected] Citation | Nixon, P. (2018) Situating human generations in Big History. Journal of Big History, II(2); 53 - 77. DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.22339/jbh.v2i2.2302

Introduction “the dynamics of heat”, and the rate at which the universe has been expanding are said Big History looks at history from the Big Bang, to be responsible for the complexity we see which was, as far as we know, the beginning of our universe, to the present, placing humanity in this thermodynamics states that energy is always context without privileging humanity. Big History conserved,around us (Spier, though 2015, it may 53-56). change The in form,first law e.g. of from divides the past into manageable chunks which electricity to heat, or from heat to motion. The second law distinguishes energy which is available and sometimes do not. Books have been written to do work, i.e. free energy, from that which can aboutsometimes Big History fit established (Christian, fields 2011; of knowledge Spier, 2015) no longer be harnessed and states that in a closed system the amount of free energy decreases follows. It is claimed here that the links between over time: it is the free energy which creates and and other fields of scholarship referred to in what sustains complex entities (Christian, 2011, 506- taking a very long term view of the past and future 507). The rate at which the universe is expanding andthese the fields place of of knowledge humanity establish in this view. the need for has led to a description of what has been called The key concepts in Big History which make the Goldilocks Principle (Spier, 2015, 63-65). This it a suitable framing reference for the present principle states that for the bringing into being of work are those of complexity, energy, and the complex entities the circumstances must be just evolutionary process that has created our right: the relevant circumstances relate to gravity, temperature, pressure, radiation and other forms History and the problem to be addressed here, an of energy. The circumstances that brought the outlineuniverse of and the us.rest After of the briefly article describing is presented. Big stars into being are quite different from those The principles of thermodynamics, literally, which evolved later around the stars and allowed

Journal of Big History Volume II Number 2 Summer 2018 Situating human generations in Big History complex life to develop. As Hawking (1996, 164- History Association web page carries a passage 173) explains, ordered, organized or complex more directly relevant to the present work: states of inorganic or animate being are less likely Does Big History provide a to arise than disordered states. The development narrative that can help nurture the of complexity is an evolutionary process. Big development of the empathy and History offers a view of the entire universe that is cooperation that are part of our based on careful observation and contestability in social nature? Can humans form a more perfect human community about our origins that have been handed down as we continue to create a more throughvarious fields generations of science in many rather cultures than the around narratives the complex society than has existed world but which have been constrained by the before? Or will our current levels circumstances and technologies available to those of social complexity face inexorable cultures. Big History gives us a new cosmology. demise? In lived human experience cosmology may reference various time scales and social practices. Before considering a modern social paradox The worlds of work, family, school, domesticity, relevant to this goal it is important to appreciate intergenerational relationships, governance, the relation between time and human Big History. etc. can be described and analyzed as discrete, Christian (2011, 3) links Hawking’s ground- though in lived experience they intersect. The breaking view of time with Big History. For the way these worlds can be understood in Big purposes of the present work it is only necessary History is necessarily different from the ways to acknowledge Hawking’s account of the pre- they may be understood from traditional religious human history of the universe and his multi- perspectives. This work assumes that the manner dimensional theories that may help us predict in which these worlds intersect in the lives of its post humanity future. The timescale that is individuals may prove a fruitful focus for Big relevant to the present problem is that of human History consideration in the future. generational transition. Focusing on this may Human history is a very compressed, short part produce outcomes relevant at other timescales, of the big picture. But: e.g. that of global warming, and be the subject of surrounding forces which operate on yet different On the modern map of complexity, timescales such as structures of social power. humans are as central as they were The generational transition timescale contains within most traditional cosmologies. representations of the past and hopes for the (Christian, 2003, 437-458). future: it is part of the evolutionary process which Big History research projects span many started at the Big Bang and is embedded within disciplines. At Macquarie University Gillings, the Big History of the earth and that of humanity. Paulson & Tetu (2015) and Gillings (2017) Spier has recently described the attributes of concern themselves with internal microbial academic research which are common across human health and the impact of antibiotics and social sciences. His background as a cultural History doctorate in the world was completed at anthropologistthe fields of the infuses natural his sciences, writing humanities which speaks Macquariein our environment University respectively. by Dr David The Baker first (2015). Big strongly to the present work: His interests are complexity, Universal Darwinism … doing social science research, and cultural evolution. The International Big

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most notably longer term of them is beyond the scope of the present work. participatory observations within a The three key points to be demonstrated in what cultural setting that is different from follows are that: our own, places far greater demands 1. poverty lines have been publicly set by on a wide variety of skills than any government in Australia and other developed other form of science. (Spier, 2017). countries for decades, The present work provides a theoretical 2. inequality has been steadily rising, background for social science research concerning Big History and human generations. This sets the 3. the disproportionate impacts of inequality on work apart from much of the public commentary the young. on generations and backgrounds research to be reported in a sequel article. The present work and its sequel will take account of the four basic Australia based on a survey conducted by Prof.Firstly, Ronald poverty Henderson lines were in Melbourne first drawn in in1966 by Spier: logical consistency, explanation or (Kewley, 1973, 391-393; Henderson, Harcourt & structuringrequirements of forempirical academic observations, research identified openness Harper, 1970). This led to him being appointed by the Federal government to lead the National The sequel will also address his additional Commission of Inquiry into Poverty which requirementto falsification in and relation the sharing to social of science findings. arising updated these lines (Henderson, 1975, 14), out of the participatory action research tradition: guided Federal budget provisions in 1972-73 and it will locate the researcher in generational and featured in parliamentary debates at the time institutional terms, in relation to the research (Kewley, 1973, 400-401). Today those poverty process, participants and outcomes. Without lines are updated quarterly by the Melbourne specifying them in the same terms, these points Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research were addressed by the author in an earlier at Melbourne University. publication (Nixon, 2009). Similar accounts can be given concerning other developed countries. For example, in United The paradox: Rising inequality in the Kingdom it began with the Beveridge Report presence of publicly declared ‘poverty lines’ in the 1940’s (Gordon & Townsend, 1990). In A current issue which focuses our attention on Canada, Germany, Great Britain and the United intergenerational relationships is the paradoxical States, comparisons were not possible until co-existence over decades in developed countries of publicly set ‘poverty lines’ on the one hand available, implying that data had been gathered and increasing pecuniary inequality on the other. inthe those 1980’s countries when comparable for some time data prior first tobecame the Other issues could have been chosen, but this will 1980’s: in the United States poverty thresholds suit the purpose of increasing our understanding had been set in the 1960’s (Valletta, 2006). Other of the relevance of human generational transition national governments that began around this time to Big History. to systematically collect and publish population There are voluminous and separate literatures level data concerning the incidence of poverty on poverty, poverty lines and inequality: some were Canada in 1961, Germany in 1963, Finland focus on subsistence, others on the debate about in 1966 and Sweden in 1967 (Atkinson, 1991). relative versus absolute poverty. A full appraisal Governments in developed countries have been

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setting poverty lines for decades. … (ibid.) Secondly, reports prepared by the Organization can be presented in the media with great for Economic Cooperation and Development immediacy; in the medium-term policy makers (OECD) over recent years have shown increasing often refer to safety nets; and suggest that: inequity within and between countries. The titles of the OECD reports convey concern about … technological change will come poverty in 2001 but increasingly inequality is the to the rescue as it always has in the recurring theme (OECD, 2001; OECD, 2008; OECD, past. (ibid.) 2011; OECD, 2015). The most recent one begins by proclaiming: market structure and power. Kanbur asserts thatThe the final ‘Finance area of Ministry’ disagreement assumes concerns that markets The gap between rich and poor are competitive while in ‘Civil Society’ it is keeps widening. considered that markets are not competitive. He further asserts that when markets are distorted In keeping with the OECD report of 2001, by either poor infrastructure or local monopoly, Kanbur’s (2001) focus is poverty in an capital mobility will hurt labor in countries both international context and his work benchmarks sourcing and receiving the capital. Referring to the argument concerning inequality. He acknowledges wide areas of agreement between for a widening of debate on economic policy and abstract entities he characterizes as the ‘Finance international financial institutions Kanbur calls Ministry’ and ‘Civil Society’. His Finance Ministry agreement… ‘growth’ on definitions: is used to mean both an increase in per capita income, and to banks, etc. His Civil Society contains human rights refer to a policy package. (ibid.) advocates,contains economists, NGO’s, the governmentUnited Nations, finances, etc. They are said to largely agree on the value of education Referring to a meeting of the Governors of the and health, the role of international public goods, World Bank he concludes: the relationship between market and state and the When the institution whose self- central importance of regulatory institutions over stated mission it is to eradicate markets, governments and the household-market poverty can only hold its Annual relationship. He then describes the following Meetings under siege from those areas of disagreement. Aggregate statistics require who believe its mission is to further careful explanation if they are to be accurately the cause of the rich and powerful, interpreted, e.g. the percentage of a population there is clearly a gap to be bridged. in poverty may fall, but if the population is (ibid.) increasing, the absolute number in poverty may be Based on the more recent OECD reports cited increasing; different poverty lines are drawn from above it is clear Kanbur’s call has gone unheeded: mean compared to median income levels; and the inequality has been rising for at least a decade and value of public services is not always counted and a half, if not more. varies according to whether they are working well Finally, two recent Australian reports on or not. The duration being considered makes a inequality highlight its impacts on the young. The difference to perceptions of poverty e.g. the: Grattan Institute report (Daley, Wood, Weidman & … daily reality of poor people’s lives Harrison, 2014) examined the impact of inequity

Journal of Big History Page 56 Peter Nixon across generations and found that: approach which can be used to structure research processes which address intergenerational issues Growing wealth has not benefitted in the context of Big History. the young. The next section places the paradox in the And human period of the earth’s Big History by Spending policies increasingly benefit older Australians. of scholarship, (Turchin, 2003; Turchin, 2006; Turchinreference & toNefedov, two completely 2009; Figueroa, independent 2015) fields both of which consider various time periods in human policies of governments need to change to enable civilisations up to and including centuries. These These authors conclude that the financial scholars show that there are circumstances in generations, but they note the more substantial which some complex societies can be expected to a fairer share of burdens and benefits between voting power of the older generation based become dangerously less egalitarian. The third simply on its size, relative to the young, may section relates the classical writers on generations be an impediment to this. Increasing longevity to Mill’s notions and to unborn future generations. and the burden experienced by the young have The fourth section considers further independent combined to create the ‘Sandwich generation’ (Grundy & Henretta, 2006), those in middle age description of a non-literate civilisation, the Australianfields of scholarship Indigenous and peoples contains whose a sympathetic civilisation older generations simultaneously. While poverty has lasted continuously for tens of thousands who find themselves caring for both younger and remains a concern for the Australian Council of years (Mulvaney & Kamminga, 1999). The for Social Service (ACOSS) their recent report of ways Australian Indigenous peoples would have over 50 pages on inequality found that income regarded the non-identity problem and handled inequality in Australia is higher than the OECD knowledge are critical points in this section average and that wealth is even more unequally distributed (ACOSS, 2014; ACOSS, 2015). considers Steinbruner’s (2011) sympathetic In summary, despite the existence for decades interpretation(Gammage, 2012; of Mill’s Kelly, controversial 2016). The fifth writings, section of government declared poverty lines, inequality and the ways in which the word “ethology” has has been growing and is creating disproportionate been interpreted since Mill used it to describe burdens for the young. The question thus arises a scholarly pursuit he considered to be highly about whether governments have the capacity important – the study of the formation of to play a role in addressing this inequality? The character. paradox arises because democratic governments Some scholars have suggested remedial actions put a lower limit on inequity through poverty lines aimed at problems very similar to the paradox but do not set limits on how rich it is possible to addressed here (Figueroa, 2015, II, 189-201; become. James 2006, 292-314). Proposed remedies are It is argued below that by placing these outside the scope of the present work but worthy observations about generations and inequality of consideration elsewhere. The following section in the context of human Big History a new perspective on this paradox emerges. Responding to the paradox occurdiscusses over how different the paradox time periods, identified from arises years at to centuries.the confluence The centralof several concern social here patterns is to whichcreate a The rest of this article describes a theoretical

Volume II Number 2 Summer 2018 Page 57 Situating human generations in Big History theoretical framework that will facilitate timely feedback as different remedies are tried. The rise and fall of agrarian empires Placing the problem in the human Mathematical models describing the rise and period of the earth’s Big History. decline of agrarian empires are at the centre of The paradox concerning the coexistence of Turchin’s… a(2003) large multiethnicwork. He defines territorial empire as: government set poverty lines and increasing state with complex power structure. inequality with disproportionate impacts on the (Turchin, 2006, 338) young, can be better understood by reference to various timescales in the history of human However, the political structures in the states biology and economics work with different kinds internally complex; they may be very different: which Turchin defines as empires are not only ofcivilisations. evidence and The methodologies scholarly fields but of evolutionaryone author The political arrangements by which a state is governed are irrelevant to different types of civilisations. Each author builds the definition of empire (2006, 339). in each field has sought to explain changes in In summary, Turchin tested his theories on analysis, so that, for example, the evolutionary complex societies of the past with diverse forms of biologistconcepts considersimportant productivity to the other offield humans into their and government. land and the economist emphasises that ‘history Turchin views empires as beginning in an ethnic matters’. Both see humanity in the context of group, or ethnie, which, unchecked, expands by the natural world, hence an appropriate subject natural increase until it encounters the territory of another ethnie which it then dominates: his meta- biologist, Turchin (2003), presents theories which ethnic frontier theory models this expansionary explainfor rigorous much scientific of the rise enquiry. and decline The evolutionary of agrarian phase. The ethnic core may be a coercive elite, an empires, while the economist, Figueroa (2015), elite which cooperates with the population or a: capitalism. Both authors test their theories Lateral empire wide integration of againstpresents appropriate a unified theory available of contemporary data. Their theories global elites … who rule over ethnically consist of mathematical models and while Turchin heterogeneous commoners. (Turchin, begins and ends with the timescale of the life of 2003, 50). an empire and treats shorter timescales such as Turchin’s second model, Ethnokinetics, aims generational ones in the decline phase, Figueroa to explain the incorporation of weak ethnies begins with a very short time scale, and concludes with timescales of decades and centuries, empire but is of less interest in the present including reference to generational transitions in contextin stronger than ones, his other a process models. which His defines Demographic- an the longer timescales. In the present context the Structural theory aims to explain the decline of most important thing about their work is that they empires. Finally, secular cycles in population size reach very similar conclusions about the decline were predicted by Turchin on the basis of the of agrarian empires (Turchin) and the future of Demographic-Structural modelling: capitalism (Figueroa) and these conclusions have … population numbers in agrarian societies are expected to go through a direct bearing on the paradox identified above.

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slow oscillations with a periodicity elites, and a strong state that of approximately two or three maintains order and internal centuries. (2003, 150). stability. Internal cohesion often or many human generations, and his analysis of results in the vigorous prosecution empirical observations supported this. of external wars of conquest, which In Turchin’s 2003 publication he reports testing may result in the extension of the against two agrarian empires and in the later state territory. (Turchin & Nefedov, one, co-authored with Nefedov, mature models of 2009, 20) empire formation and decline are tested against The disintegrative phase typically involves: several more (Turchin & Nefedov, 2009). These a decentralizing tendency, divided authors gathered comparable demographic and elites, a weak state, and internal archaeological data for all the agrarian empires instability and political disorder that they studied. They examined eight different periodically flare up in civil war. empires, spread across England, France, Italy (ibid. 20) and Russia and spanning almost two millennia. In relation to a particular period in mediaeval In the disintegrative phase the population England they state: and between social strata diminishes. The authors Nominal wages did not exhibit a presentbecomes different more stratified indices andof social cooperation instability within cycle but grew fairly monotonically. depending on what data was available. For the Thus, a building craftsman’s wage period between 1100 and 1500 in mediaeval increased from 3 pennies (d.) per England the evidence concerns rebellions and the day in the late thirteenth century to 6 d. per day in the early sixteenth Romanov cycle in Russia from 1795 till 1928 the century (Phelps-Brown & Hopkins evidencefinding of concerns coin hoards peasant (ibid. disturbances, 31, 47) and for crime the 1955). Real wages, by contrast, incidence and named executions (ibid. 284-286). exhibited an oscillation, driven by In two cases out of the eight empires studied, the cycling movement of prices … . Turchin & Nefedov found evidence of recurring (Turchin & Nefedov, 2009, 38). generational cycles which had a very approximate This level of precision allows the authors to periodicity of two generations or 40 to 60 years trace and analyze patterns discretely within (ibid. 28, 79-80, 106, 203, 285): the authors called different economic strata of their subject them social-psychological cycles. In the remaining populations. The statistical methods employed by six empires, no such evidence is presented by these authors allowed them to map the patterns Turchin & Nefedov, so whether generational observed among different strata of the population patterns existed in them is an open question. against aggregate indices of stability and growth The social-psychological cycles described or decline (Turchin & Nefedov, 2009, 310-311). by Turchin (2006, 243-244, 285-286, 295- The secular cycles in agrarian societies 298) became evident to him when studying the described by Turchin & Nefedov (2009) involve disintegrative phase of much longer secular cycles. alternating integrative and disintegrative phases. Turchin argues that in these cycles men who The integrative phase typically involves: return from war and know its cruel realities have the effect of ‘immunizing’ their sons against war, …a centralizing tendency, unified

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and so what follows is a period of peace. These impacts. Communist or second world countries are reaction, but eventually a generation of men maturessons may without have a slightlyexperiencing similar war. but At modified this point, he divides third world countries into two groups if the demographic and other pressures that havingexcluded either from weak Figueroa’s or strong work colonial by definition legacies. and He reviewed relevant economic data, from historical operation, the likelihood is that another war will and recent international datasets. Eastern Europe breakcaused out, the and conflict so on in until the first the pressuresinstance are change. still in was excluded because the introduction of market The term generational is used here to refer to reforms since the 1990’s meant that they were ‘in these cycles. transition’ to capitalism (ibid. 28-30). Turchin’s (2008) theory asserts that in agrarian Using data from the individual countries empires social cohesion, synchronous equity and he creates abstract models of capitalism as it the state all decline together and the empirical operates in: work he refers to shows that in some cases a) First world countries (Epsilon society) generational cycles were associated with the decline of the empire. b) Third World countries with weak colonial legacies (Omega society)

Integrated economic theory of capitalism c) Third World countries with strong colonial legacies (Sigma society). In global capitalism nation/states cooperate to maintain global markets in which businesses A key aspect of these models is the slightly compete. Using Popperian logic, Figueroa creates different representations of excess labor in a theory which applies across all capitalist each model. In Epsilon it is represented as countries. In his view this is necessary because unemployment, in Omega as unemployment and he sees conventional economic theories as being under-employment with income gaps between limited in their scope. He reviews Neoclassical, ethnies and in Sigma it is like Omega with increased self-employment. that none of them can account for the existence Keynesian and Classical economics and finds the development of his theory: Hea) definesThe short three run different which typically timescales lasts relevant less to Neoclassicaland persistence economics of unemployment cannot account in the for first the than half a year in which he posits a static shortworld: run in additioncorrelation he findsbetween that nominal Classical and and real economic model,

(Figueroa, 2015, 1, 27-39). Figueroa describes b) The long run which typically lasts a year or nominaleconomic variables variables as in those the first under and the third control worlds of so in which he posits a dynamic economic government such as money supply, exchange model,

as things like total output, real wages and c) The very long run which can last over employmentrate and interest (ibid, rate: 34). he The defines impact real of variableschanges in decades and may run to centuries in which he nominal variables are abstracted from individuals’ posits an evolutionary economic model. experience through the machinery of government, Fewer economic variables need to be where-as real variables have more tangible considered in the short-term but the longer the

Journal of Big History Page 60 Peter Nixon timescale being considered, the more relevant not mechanical, but entropic. (ibid. variables there are that might change. From these 108) [Emphasis original] In his penultimate chapter Figueroa builds which explains the representations of excess the laws of thermodynamics into his model, models he creates a unified theory of capitalism labor and the degradation of the biophysical moving beyond the earlier static, dynamic and environment that occurs in the very long run. His evolutionary theoretical models: theory culminates in the presentation of a fourth model, to be described below. The final entropic model of the Referring to the two shorter timescales unified theory predicts that the Figueroa (2015, II, 93) concludes: economic growth process supplies society with increasing quantities According to the theory of of goods per person, which has a capitalism, the global inequality positive effect on quality of society, in the capitalist system (which but it is subject to decreasing comprises between-country marginal gains. … The model inequality and within-country thus predicts a trajectory of an inequality) will persist as long as inverted-U shaped curve upon the the distribution of economic and quality of society in the economic political assets at the national growth process. … The available and international levels remains facts tend to corroborate the unchanged. … According to the predictions of the entropic model. … unified theory, therefore, there is This seems to indicate that we are path dependence in the process of entering into the downward sloping capitalist economic growth, that is, segment of the curve or maybe we history matters. are already there. (ibid. 172) It is in the very long run context that Figueroa Similarities between the conclusions of Turchin introduces his concept of the intergenerational and Figueroa will now be explored. consumption frontier and the laws of thermodynamics: Summary In conclusion, … when the stock of nonrenewable natural resources With regard to both the quality of society and is included in the economic intergenerational transitions, there is agreement process, society is faced with an between Turchin and Figueroa based on the intergenerational consumption evidence they considered and the theories they frontier. … The average consumption generated. Their work took place in totally level of future generations will necessarily be smaller than that of centuries of human existence and both portray the current generation. (ibid. 104) different fields of scholarship but both considered generational patterns in every case, the ones he We can then say that the production human Big History. Though Turchin did not find process only rearranges matter and him to build theories around them. However energy, … The economic process is Turchin’sfound were empires sufficiently and Figueroa’s well pronounced capitalist to statesenable

Volume II Number 2 Summer 2018 Page 61 Situating human generations in Big History might be compared, it would seem that Turchin States shall conserve and use the and Figueroa have independently provided environment and natural resources demographic and economic explanations, for the benefit of present and future respectively, for an underlying phenomenon. Are generations. (ibid. 339). we witnessing a process of entropy or could this But no way of balancing the needs of present be a kind of group level evolutionary process; and future generations is offered. Hence, in must we postulate that it is related to human agency or could there be some other explanation? sustainability, both of the principles addressing This question is answered in part below. A that significant international report concerning civilization in decline is shown by these authors addressed synchronous justice and the second to have deleterious impacts on the young; it is the hintedsocial aspects at diachronous related to justice. social However, justice. The the first young who pay for the excesses of the old. underlying concept of sustainability is contested. The length of the cycles and trends described In a sociological account of the social potential impacts of emerging cultural trends. population in rural Argentina over the 19th and here creates great difficulty for assessment of The impact of changes made at one point in time 20thsustainability centuries and Adamo social (2003) resilience begins of anwith identified a may not become evident for decades. Timely critique of the Brundtland report in which she assessment requires a synchronous method that addresses the justice element of the sustainable can be repeated at intervals to build an historical development concept: record. The method needs to be informed by classical generational theorists and more recent Sustainable development is generational scholarship. becoming a normative concept difficult to articulate and put into Generations observed practice. She asks ‘what is to be sustained’ and by whom, The concept of generation is foregrounded by etc. She treats social, environmental and economic the paradox being addressed here. In 1987 the sustainability as separate but interdependent. concept of generations entered international Adamo mentions the importance of space and discourse on governance through the Brundtland time and an historical perspective as ways of Report, ‘Our Common Future’. The brief of contextualising sustainability, and this is also the World Commission on Environment and Development, of which Brundtland was the Chair, (2000). Adamo designed her study to answer was concerned with sustainable development questionsreflected in about the work what of makes Scott, people Park & remain Cocklin in which was seen as a path to eradicating poverty rural areas rather than what makes them leave. (Brundtland, 1987, 24-25). Of the 22 principles Adamo draws a connection between social emerging from the Commission’s work only the sustainability and social resilience. Of particular related to human rights and the second related ‘community/culture attribute’ of the connection tofirst generations two related (ibid. to social 339). aspects, The second the first principle one relevance here is Adamo’s definition of the expresses the desire of the Commission to this attribute she incorporated ‘intergenerational establish norms about what different generations equityand her and reflection cultural on capital its value ... social for her institutions, research. In might expect of the state in relation to the natural formal and informal ... services and infrastructure.’ environment:

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(1952, 276-322). Mannheim distinguishes

Reflecting on her own application of this genealogy (kin) and the other on cohorts. The definition,This Adamo (Community/Culture/ comments: two definitions of generations: one based on Institutions/Services) attribute is this work and it groups everyone into generations more difficult to address, given the accordingcohort definition to the years of generations in which they is the were one born;used in imprecision of the elements involved. As much as she wants to escape from the are said to be separate generations. Members of a dominant normative concept of sustainable generationpeople born have, in defined at the setssame of stages consecutive of their years lives, when trying to articulate elements of social Generation is seen as a social location in the same sustainabilitydevelopment, whichAdamo stand concedes beyond having polity. difficulty In light wayshared as genderthe experience and race of (ibid, significant 291). With public regard events. to of the discussion above concerning empires and the periodicity of generational cycles: capitalism, it might be said that the state (or polity) has a generational identity which may It is a complete misconception to vary depending on whether the state is rising or suppose, as do most investigators, that a real problem of generations considered in light of the life cycles of empires exists only in so far as a rhythm andfalling. capitalism. Adamo’s Brundtland’s difficulty is understandable principle concerning when of generations, recurring at generations is inadequate because it ignores these unchanging intervals, can be time scales. established. (ibid, 286) Theoretical developments in the social Different groups within the same generation the notion of sustainable development enshrined mayThe lengthrespond of toa generational their social and cycle economic is not fixed. insustainability the 1987 Brundtland field are tentatively Report. The moving need tobeyond do circumstances in different ways. If a minority this has been recognised in a recent Australian within a generation tends to respond to their study of public sector governance (Osborne, circumstances in a way that differs from the 2010). Based on the work of Figueroa it would response of the majority they are called a seem that development has been emphasised at generational unit (ibid, 304). The existence of the expense of sustainability, however that term is generational units adds a layer of complexity to interpreted. the analysis of intergenerational relationships: Human Resource Management consultancies ... there exists a uniform (McCrindle, 2009; McQueen, 2008; Lancaster & generational context in the sense of Stillman, 2005) often consider what are perceived a shared problem community, but not as the competing interests of different generations a generational unity whose members (Rayner, 2016; Goertzel, 2006; Heath, 2006; Walsh could offer uniform solutions to & Black, 2011; Seedsman, 2006). Sociology can these problems. (Jaeger, 1985). help us understand generations through less biased lenses. In making this distinction, Jaeger raises Mannheim, known for his contribution to the questions about whether and how points of sociology of knowledge, provides a summary of contention between and within generations are much of the scholarly thought about generations, dealt with, and by whom; sharing a time in history as it stood in the middle of the twentieth century does not necessarily lead to cooperation.

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The notion of generational identity or into 33 volumes and have been made available personality goes back to Dilthey’s notion digitally (Mill, 2016). Mill’s writings have had a (advanced in the late 1800s) of ‘the intellectual culture of a generation’ and referred to by Marias the 20th century and they are relevant here for two (1970, 52). Generations have been seen as reasons,significant his impact interest on in much generations of the political and something life of vehicles for transmission of culture and viewed he called ethology that will be discussed below. as recurring in cycles of either two or four types He was born in 1806 and died in 1873. For three (ibid, 183-184; Turchin 2003). The common years from 1865 to 1868 he followed in the feature of both the two and four type models footsteps of his father, James, becoming an elected member of the British Parliament. In phase two of the present work I searched digital copies of onis that the influentialcourse of history. generations The generation alternated cohorts with his publications and, in all, found 512 references generations that appear to have had less influence to generations. It is evident that the frequency (Marias, 1970, 185) and thirty (Mannheim, 1952, 310)were yearsvariously long, estimated which allowed to be betweenresearchers fifteen much his maturity as a writer progressed, peaking in scope for blurring the boundary years. Marias publicationsof those references between increased 1868 and significantly 1872. Some as of (1970, 184-185) described a pattern of four his references to generations are not made in the different and succeeding generations living at the same sense in which generations are referred to same time in history and described the tensions above; he could have used other words to describe between them thus: his meaning. Setting aside those references it is clear that Mill understood intergenerational The year 1800 is not a single date; phenomena in much the same way as the later it is four different dates that exist scholars discussed above understood them. simultaneously and are mutually Mill’s commitment to intergenerational equity involved in an active form. Strictly was very clear from early in his parliamentary speaking what we find is not term: movement so much as it is that which shapes movement and makes What are we, Sir - we of this it possible – a system of tensions generation, or of any other and working forces ... This tension generation, that we should usurp, which is revealed in the multiplicity and expend upon our particular and of generations, is the force behind exclusive uses, what was meant for historical movement. mankind? (28, 143) This point is a guiding principle for the and also expressed in his essays: discussion below. The owner of capital is by no means to consider himself it’s absolute John Stuart Mill on generations proprietor. (10, 485) Mill was a prominent politician in Britain in the Mill was ahead of his time in many respects middle of the 1800s whose thousands of pages and lamented the parlous state of what we would of writing including letters to individuals and to now call the social sciences and in particular, the press were published, some posthumously, knowledge about psychology (8, 223-224). The between 1823 and 1898. These were assembled neurologist and philosopher, Antonio Damasio

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(2003, 15), acknowledges Mill’s grasp of the: generations (Wolf, 2003), they are making the distinction between concern for the generations … relation between personal and alive today (overlapping) and concern for unborn collective happiness, on the one generations (non-overlapping). Mill seems to have hand, and human salvation and the been unable to resolve this problem involving structure of the state, on the other, … overlapping and non-overlapping generations It might even be said that Mill foresaw the which had burdened him from very early in his development of human Big History: career (6, 240, 252). The facts of each generation Mill sees the length of a generation being are looked upon as one complex approximately 25 years (3, 483) and this is in phenomenon, caused by those of the close alignment with the classical generational generation preceding, and causing, theorists discussed above. In harmony with in its turn, those of the next in order. the later writing of Marias, Mill believed the That these states must follow one character of a generation was formed by the another according to some law, is circumstances in which they grew up (24, 264). considered certain: how to read Having suggested various measures by which the that law, is deemed the fundamental younger generation could mature in improved problem of the science of history. circumstances Mill (Political Economy, 270) notes (20, 345). that: Approaching his maturity as a writer, Mill The benefit would however arise, became aware of a set of circumstances in Britain not from what was given them, but at that time which are similar to aspects of the from what they were stimulated to paradox addressed in the present work: acquire. In fact, it has now come to this, that It is clear Mill sees improvement being instead of being at liberty to suppose negotiated between older and younger that future generations will be more overlapping generations, but not necessarily as capable than we are ourselves of equal negotiating partners. His recognition of paying off the national debt, it is generations within occupations and occupations probable that the present generation within generations is an indication that he and the one or two which will follow, would have understood the modern concept of are the only ones which will have the generational units and the complexity of such smallest chance … . (28, 141) negotiations. The variety of occupations that he referred to include ‘Political Economists‘ (Political Economy, 543), ‘Statesman’ (6, 243), ‘Labourers’ (sic) (4, 435), ‘Painters’ (14, 360), of being able to repay it. He later qualified this obliging future generations to partially pay the ‘Irish farmers’ (6, 584), ‘Grecian poets’ (11, by citing circumstances which he felt justified 416), and ‘Philosophers’ (7, 231). It’s clear that them by previous generations (Political Economy, in some cases Mill also understood the need to cost of benefits they did not choose, but had left to 613). locate generational units within their national When economists, philosophers and contexts. Mill understood that cultural meanings demographers write about overlapping (Engineer, are generated within countries, occupations and Roth, & Welling, 2005) or non-overlapping generations (8, 230). At one point Mill (21, 241)

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describes something like the generational cycles Identifying a generation described by Turchin: The task of identifying a generation is informed A new generation has grown up by contemporary demographic study. Not all since the great victory of slavery authors agree on the boundary years between abolition; composed of persons generations, but approximations are generally whose ardour in the cause has never been wrought upon and strung up by Samples regarding Australian voting patterns and contest. The public of the present day Americanaccepted if Human they fit Resource within the Management descriptions (HRM) above. think as their fathers did concerning are given for comparison with the Australian slavery, but their feelings have not Bureau of Statistics and Australian demographers been in the same degree roused in Table 1. (ABS, 2009; Gray, Evans & Kippen, against its enormities. (sic) 2007; Zemke, Raines & Filipczak, 1999; Ruthven, On these points Mill’s thinking is in tune with 2004; Strauss & Howe, 1991, 84; Australian that of 20th century sociology and early 21st Bureau of Statistics, 2006). century thinking about human Big History. In the Australian context this represents fertility cohort patterns similar to those described by

Table 1 Generation boundaries of demographers and other authors.

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Turchin (2003, 151-152). their well-being (Gosseries, 2008; Weinberg, 2012). But examples have been given of ‘historic injustice’ to the descendants of slaves (Herstein, The ‘non-identity problem’ 2008) and the ‘Stolen Generation’ of original Australians (Dodson, 2007). In these cases In the case of non-overlapping generations the governments have accepted responsibility for ‘non-identity problem’ must be addressed (Page, providing compensation many years after the 2006) because living generations can exploit their original injustice. Part of the argument in favour position (ibid.). Mill never reached a resolution of of the historical injustice claim is that the original injustice is a separate issue from the continuation concerned with social justice, the environment of a derivation of that injustice in the present. this problem and debate on it continues in fields (Dobson, 1999; Woollard, 2012) and applications Therefore these instances are equivocal on the of technology to fertility (Weinberg, 2013; implications of the non-identity problem. Gardner, 2015). It applies in societies where It has been argued that: laws can only apply to people who can be clearly … we are right to keep our eye on is argued that if a law applied to the unborn, how principles and practices affect theidentified problem and thus this created usually would means be the the living. need It to individual persons and I will argue determine exactly who among the people yet to be that, when we do, the non-identity born would be harmed, and in what ways by the problem does not arise. (Weinberg, pursuit of the various alternatives now available 2012) to deal, for example, with climate change. The following section describes a civilisation The non-identity problem was partially in which this appears to have been done to good recognised in English law sometime prior to Mill’s effect. career: It is now a considerable number The pre-colonization society of the of years since a London merchant original Australians having by testament directed that the bulk of his fortune should This section considers the culture and accumulate for two generations, civilisation of the original Australians, commonly and then devolve without restriction called Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. upon a person specified; this will, Based on archaeological evidence they are rare as such dispositions might be estimated to have settled in Australia at least expected to be, excited so much 40,000 or 60,000 years ago or more (Mulvaney disapprobation, that an Act of & Kamminga, 1999). During that time they have Parliament was passed, expressly maintained a continuous, developing culture to “enact” that nothing of the same which would seem to have at least partially sort should be done in future. (Mill, survived the devastating annexation of their 4, 259) lands by Europeans since 1788: this is evident in their public statements calling for a national Some argue that because the rights of the treaty in which they have been encouraged by unborn cannot be asserted in law, present many, including the historian, Henry Reynolds generations need not concern themselves with

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(Reynolds, 1996, 70, 114-116, 145, 151-153; from the rest of humanity in Eurasia. Reynolds, 1989, 75, 87) the popularity of the [Emphasis in original] (Mulvaney & music by Yothu Yindi (2016), announcements Kamminga, 1999, 170) by two Australian state governments concerning Their closest neighbors were the Torres Strait Island- treaty discussions (South Australian Treaty ers to the north who: Discussions, 2017; Victorian Treaty Discussions, 2017) and the recent Uluru Statement from the resemble Papuans rather than Heart (2017). Australian Aboriginals in physical It has been estimated that before 1788 the features. (ibid, 332) original Australians, in comparatively small social groups, occupied the whole continent of Australia including parts that would now be considered between the groups but the original Australians deserts and that there were literally hundreds didThere not follow was trade, the agricultural conflict and practices intermixing of the of languages among them (Elkin, 1970, 17). Islanders (Gammage, 2012, 98) who may have The continuity in the civilisation of the original adopted some of the original Australians’ hunter- Australians has something to teach us in relation gathering practices (ibid, 300). In relation to the power structures of original be distinguished from the empires studied by Australians Berndt & Berndt refer to them as Turchinto the non-identity and Turchin problem & Nefedov but andit must the firstcapitalist ‘stateless’ (Berndt, & Berndt, 1981, 366) and Keen economies studied by Figueroa. tells us that rules and norms were taken as given: … because they were contained and suitable for his analysis are that the society in transmitted in oral tradition and in The criteria Turchin used to define empires question must be large, internally multiethnic, the absence of centralised legislative territorial and have a complex power structure and judicial institutions, the rules and that a meta-ethnic frontier is present in the and principles of ancestral law had early stages (Turchin, 2006, 3). A meta-ethnic a large discretionary component. frontier is a place where an empire and foreign (Keen, 2004, 244) ethnie are geographic neighbours of a kind. And that: social arrangements in which private property Networks of regional cooperation dominatesFigueroa over defines property capitalism held inas common,a set of the underpinned the sharing of ancestral market is the dominant form of exchange and law. (ibid, 244) Ancestral laws may have differed from of governance (Figueroa, 2015, I, 27). community to community but all over Australia democracy,Our knowledge loosely about defined, the isoriginal the dominant Australians form ancestral law was honoured. This law indicated that the original Australians belonged to the land of empire and capitalism. Mulvaney tells us: enables comparison with several defining aspects rather than the land belonging to them (Berndt For longer than any other & Berndt, 1981, 135-149). The words “territory” population of Homo sapiens, and “property” had, therefore, a very different the ancestors of the Aborigines meaning for the original Australians than they inhabiting Sahul, and later do in empires or capitalist societies. The original Australia, were genetically cocooned Australians at the time of the early encounters

Journal of Big History Page 68 Peter Nixon between them and Europeans had no experience inheritance, followed the same Law, of a meta-ethnic frontier, they were an ethnically allied with fire and worked locally to homogeneous population whose understanding of make plants and animals abundant, territory and property was completely different to convenient and predictable. They ours and they were ‘stateless’. made a continent a single estate. Therefore we can conclude that the society of (Gammage, 2011, 280). the original Australians at the time of its early Land management practices of the original encounters with Europeans was neither an Australians had two salient features. Firstly, empire as Turchin would see it, nor a capitalist they used very detailed knowledge of botany, society as Figueroa would see it: it existed outside the mathematical models of human Big History weather conditions, animal husbandry and the discussed above. the impact of fire on different plants in different Gammage has painstakingly reviewed many of the create landscapes that were compared by the earliest records made by Europeans about the original earlyfire technologies European visitors that were to the available estates to of them landed to Australians and the way they related to their land- European gentry (ibid. 5-17). Secondly, given scapes. These records consist primarily of paintings the level of technology available, to establish and handwritten documents and he finds a substan- the land templates portrayed by Gammage the tial level of agreement between them regarding the knowledge required must have been applied lifestyle of the original Australians and the way they consistently over centuries (ibid. 41) after which related to their landscapes. The original Australians only maintenance activity was required. However, controlled their lands and their populations so as to even the maintenance activity in some cases produce a surplus most of the time and enough to required observance of plant cycles with the get them through the severest droughts (Gammage, periodicity of approximately half a century (ibid. 2012, 150-151). Most of his book concerns their land 27, 52). Despite being a non-literate civilization, management practices: population management he the original Australians must have conveyed mentions in passing indicating that a variety of laws knowledge from generation to generation in were invoked and in extreme cases infanticide was ways that ensured it would be passed on to practiced; something also noted by other authors future generations so that it could be used at the (Marcus, 2015; Stormon, 1977, 136-137) and inter- appropriate times in these plant cycles, even if preted in a broader context as being ‘essential for the it was not always going to be necessary to use survival of society’ (Davies, 1981, 193). Mill was that information in the lifetime of some human also concerned about population size and it has rele- generations. vance to Big History (Christian, 2011, 311-312, 630). Gammage concludes: consider the differences between the left and rightIt is hemispheres noteworthy ofat thethis human point to brain briefly and 1788’s plant patterns were unnatural McGilchrist’s (2009) argument that in the but universal. How people did contemporary western world the dominance of this varied from region to region, the left hemisphere is responsible for many of our but everywhere they made similar problems. The left hemisphere’s primary focus templates for similar purposes. is said to be on all that is familiar and it deals in Different lives, from Spinifex to concepts it can ‘grasp’. On the other hand the right rainforest, the Wet to the snow, hemisphere engages with the outside world more, coast to desert, obeyed a strict

Volume II Number 2 Summer 2018 Page 69 Situating human generations in Big History seeing everything in context. This is a gross over- are relevant to this challenge and will be discussed the present purpose. Before analysing the cultural in Twothe following additional section. fields of disciplined knowledge shiftssimplification in hemisphere of McGilchrist’s dominance work in the but western can serve world he describes the role of mimesis in cultural Social Anthropology and Human change and indicates that: Ethology. … we choose what we imitate. The relationship between social anthropology (McGilchrist, 2009, 256) and human ethology is complex. For historical McGilchrist describes writing as primarily a left hemisphere function (McGilchrist, 2009, 274-279): this implies that non-literate societies reasonsAn early the 20 fieldth century of human dictionary ethology (Porter will be & like that of the original Australians, compared discussed first. to literate ones, lived with a different balance that the word is of Greek origin where it refers between the functioning of the left and right toHarris, character, 1902, custom 513) definition and moral of nature.ethology It indicatesthen hemispheres of the brain. Inspired by her understanding of how the original Australians handled knowledge, Kelly provides1. twoA treatise definitions: on morality; ethics. 2. The science of the formation of in her own life and that other ancient non-literate character, national and collective as civilisationsfound she could such apply as the their Easter techniques Islanders profitably and well as individual. the Stonehenge dwellers handled knowledge in similar ways (Kelly, 2016). Unlike the latter two J. S. which used large expensive man-made objects as Mill. their mnemonic props, the original Australians TheAn source early 21of stthe second definition is given as used features in the landscape. By these means same authority (Websters, 2016) indicates they made the non-identity problem irrelevant. French, Latin and century Greek definition origins in givenwhich by the the This kind of intergenerational relationship goes relevant words are linked with character, speech far beyond that mentioned in the Brundtland and expression and provides the following two Report, discussed above, and challenges our current intergenerational practice. definitions:1. The scientific study of animal A small international group from the academy behavior, especially as it occurs and business are today concerning themselves in a natural environment. with the well-being of future generations (Oxford Martin Commission for Future Generations, 2015). 2. The study of human ethos and its The way original Australians lived in 1788 is an formation. example that makes it worthwhile for us to strive to meet the Big History challenge set by Spier: It is evident that the link with Mill has been … would we be able to tame both lostNo and sources the meaning are given of forthe these word definitions. has been our biological instincts and social arrangements with the aid of culture? (Spier 2015, 313) thesignificantly recent one broadened: incudes the the study context of animals, of the early definition limits it only to humans while

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… in order to make reasonable generalizations about how specific ofprivileging separate theinternational latter by listing ethology it first. associations, The conditions external to the individual thelatter International definition reflects Society the for current Applied existence Ethology contribute to the acquisition of (2016) for the study of animal behavior and the specific dispositions.[or traits] International Society for Human Ethology (2016). (Steinbruner, 2011, iii) Mill himself made little progress with his ethology in the Millean sense which is still seen ethology project but it was taken up by others. The present work stops short of defining as a work in progress to which Steinbruner Leary (1982) describes its slow development, its (2011) has made a major contribution. Using demise in UK and simultaneous advance in France, keyword searches Steinbruner has been able to and its return to the English-speaking world draw together and interpret Mill’s publications through the social anthropology of Radcliffe- succinctly and in a way that demonstrates their Brown and Malinowski. relevance to the present day. Steinbruner asserts that Mill sees: … political units, patterns of ‘ethology’In the final to animal footnote behavior to his article in 1907 Leary and also human behavior and forms of suggestsidentifies that the atoriginal the time application of his publication, of the term 1982, social organization. (Steinbruner, animal and human ethologies might be in the 2011, iii) process of converging. In the same year Hinde (1982) published his book which relied heavily as co-constitutive of each other. Steinbruner sees on the work of animal ethologists in its approach in Mill’s thought to human ethology, without reference to Mill. … a framework that relates Seven years later, as if in response to Hinde, Eibl- individual utility to a distinct Eibesfeldt (1989) published his epic work on but not independent utility of the whole. (ibid.) by the work of animal ethologists and without human ethology which was also much influenced Steinbruner observes that Mill proposes reference to Mill. Based on this author’s keyword search and … a method of investigating analysis of Mill’s works it appears that Mill’s this relationship as reflected in thoughts about generations closely approximate characteristic patterns of thought the thoughts of the authors referred to in the and behavior, a method - political ‘Generations observed’ section above. However, ethology… . (ibid.) Mill’s frequent expressions of concern regarding The ambitions of the International Big History “posterity” suggest strongly that he would not Association (2015) announced prominently on regard the “non-identity” problem as a valid their website, i.e. to contribute to human well- reason to ignore the interests of the, as yet, being in the present and near future can arguably unborn. be well served by pursuing concerns that Mill Mill’s work, and particularly his ethology hoped his ethology project would address. proposal has been controversial, like many of Steinbruner’s interpretation of Mill’s ethology the other works cited here. At the end of his project sees it as building on our knowledge of book which is broadly sympathetic to Mill, Miller psychology: mockingly dismisses the ethology project:

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Mill’s unfinished project, the Recent work in social anthropology draws construction of the great science of together insights from several synchronous ethology, has yet to be carried out. anthropological observations to make general (Miller, 2010, 211) statements about social practices in the economy However, Leary traces an unbroken line of (Gudeman, 2016,183-189). The limitations of the synchronic frame are lamented by one social anthropology. If Leary’s conclusion is accepted, anthropologist (Lewis, 1981, 11) and the source of ethological thought from Mill to the field of social challenge for others: only be seen as historically correct but not a fair The challenge, then, is not to assessmentthen Miller’s of final Mill’s word contribution on Mill’s ethology to social canscience. do away with the synchronic A comparison between the central concepts ethnographic frame, but to exploit which are now applied in both animal and human fully the historical within it. ethologies and the things which are of greatest (Marcus, & Fischer, 1986, 96) concern to 21st century social anthropologists can The sequel to this article responds to that serve to illustrate the divergence between the two challenge. that began in the early 20th century. Human and animal ethology today examine behavior from causal, developmental, functional Conclusion and evolutionary perspectives (Hinde, 1982, The primary purpose of this work has been 128-131; Barrett & Stulp, 2013). Time is an to situate human generations in Big History essential dimension in all of these perspectives and to do this in a way that may lead to a more except the functional and even in that one time harmonious humanity. To do this the work had may be involved. In ethology sentiments and to address a range of controversial issues and tendencies were early key concepts but Leary notes that social anthropologists refer instead to without the cosmology offered by Big History, interests, values, needs and satisfaction. Though thethis arguments is not unusual presented in the Big here History would field. have Butbeen all of these can change with time, time is not an On their own, the life cycles of empires and same time as Eibl-Eibesfeldt was publishing his difficult to support. epicessential work dimension concerns wereof their being definitions. raised about At the underlying evolutionary group selection process. the need to rethink human ethology (Betzig, However,capitalism the might complexity be seen ofas thatreflections concept of and an 1989). Betzig places the focus in human ethology the controversy surrounding it (Okasha, 2013, on understanding mechanisms (For detailed 173-202) make it an unattractive proposition. After considering the example of precolonial Swedberg 2005) so that predictions can be made. original Australians, Popperian logic came into Whilediscussion ethology of social today mechanisms is imbued with see Hedstrӧm a concern & play and the entropy and the levels of selection about the continuity of time and the making of predictions, social anthropology is much more other explanation for the survival of the original interested in understanding the present. This Australians’hypotheses werecivilisation, falsified. and In thethe differencesabsence of any understanding is pursued for its own sake in between that civilisation and empires and the hope that it may inform our approach to the capitalism, human agency must be considered future.

as a potential explanation, qualified by due

Journal of Big History Page 72 Peter Nixon consideration of the balance between the left and References right hemispheres of the brain. Current practice in human ethology is concerned more with ABS. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2009) ‘From behaviour than character. Bringing together the Generation to generation’ in A Picture of the Na- thoughts of Mill, Steinbruner and McGilchrist, one tion. http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/sub- might ask: what might the young be ‘stimulated to scriber.nsf/0/FCB1A3CF0893DAE4CA25754C- acquire’ (Mill, Political Economy, 270) or disposed 0013D844/$File/20700_generation.pdf 19/05/17. (Steinbruner, 2011, 144) to imitate (McGilchrist, ACOSS. Australian Council of Social Service. (2014) 2012, 256)? The answer is to be found somewhere Poverty in Australia. http://www.acoss.org.au/ in inter-generational relationships. images/uploads/ACOSS_Poverty_in_Austra- Disciplined study of generations has been lia_2014.pdf 18/04/2017. a comparatively narrow area relying on ACOSS. Australian Council of Social Service. (2015) conventional social science disciplines. Informed Inequality in Australia. http://www.acoss.org.au/ by recent sympathetic scholarship on Mill and wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Inequality_in_Aus- Mill’s own writings this work has traced the tralia_FINAL.pdf 18/04/2017. ideas of Mill in general and his ideas concerning Adamo S. (2003) ‘Social sustainability and social ethology in particular, through key moments resilience of rural communities in drylands: the case of the Jachal (Argentina) in the 19th and After examining differences in emphasis with 20th centuries.’ (Unpublished work, quoted with relationdown to tothe time present between field socialof social anthropology anthropology. permission) Mellon Foundation. Population and the primary concepts in human and animal Research Centre and Department of Sociology. ethology, it may now become possible to University of Texas, Austin. tentatively reconstruct a model of Mill’s ethology Atkinson A. (1991) Comparing Poverty Rates In- project focusing on the character of generations ternationally: Lessons from Recent Studies in in a way that addresses the Big History goal of Developed Countries: The World Bank Economic human harmony. I submit that we need to re-unite Review 1(1)3-21. Mill’s interest in the development of character Baker D. (2015) Speaker Profile, Australian Institute with temporal references through the study of of Health Innovation Event, Macquarie Universi- ty. https://aihi.mq.edu.au/event/big-history-popu- of advances in social science that have taken place lation-and-collective-learning-8 05/12/2015. ininter-generational the century and arelationships. half since Mill, With a completed the benefit Barrett L & Stulp G. (2013) Four More Reasons Why attempt to do this in practice will be the subject of Ethology Matters: Tinbergen and the Human a sequel to this article. Sciences. Human Ethology Bulletin 28(4)39-49. It is to be hoped that this article will also https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Louise_Bar- lead to many other avenues of fruitful, intuitive rett/publication/259070028_Four_more_reasons_ speculation so that the best approach to the why_ethology_matters_Tinbergen_and_the_hu- paradox which has focused this work can be man_sciences/links/00463529def3e60eb3000000. found. pdf 20/04/2017. Berndt R & Berndt C. (1981) The World of the First Australians. Lansdowne Press, Sydney. Betzig L. (1989) Rethinking Human Ethology: A Re- sponse to Some Recent Critiques. Ethology and Sociobiology (10)315-324 (0162-3095).

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