Road To Collapse
Indicators as to the cause of this collapse can be found at Copan, a Mayan city
in Honduras. Copan was once the largest Maya center of their Classical period
and was built on an artificial terrace made of about a million cubic feet of dirt.
As the population grew, people spread out from the city center and built homes in areas
that had formerly been used for growing crops. The fact that this soil became
unusable for farming seems to suggest that agricultural failure was what led to the Maya
abandoning their cities.
In spite of its wealth, power and size, Copan collapsed. Its citizens even
stopped constructing the great stone monuments for which they are known around
822 CE, several centuries before the Spanish advance. This would seem to indicate
that the Maya civilization were in a weakened state when the invaders arrived, and
may explain why the Spanish met with little resistance.
When the political and spiritual heart of a great civilization stops beating,
the remaining nation is often not strong enough to endure. Even when city centers
struggle politically or economically, the impact on the society as a whole can be
tremendous. The population of these states tends to drop and density decreases
over time. Culture becomes far less politically centralized, and state funded
support of elements such as urban development, trade, architecture, art and
religion declines.
Sociologist Melvin H. Tumin and anthropologist John W. Bennett have written at
length about "prerequisites for survival" that must be established and maintained
so that a society can thrive:
1. Every society must be able to answer the basic biological needs of its members:
food, water, shelter, protection and medical care.
2. Every society must provide for the production and distribution of goods and
services through an organization of labor, and laws concerning property.
3. Every society must provide for the reproduction of new generations and consider
laws and issues related to families and marriage.
4. Every society must provide for the training and education of its citizens so
that they can become a functioning member of that society.
5. Every society must provide for the maintenance of internal and external order
through foreign policy, resource management, diplomacy, domestic security and war.
6. Every society must provide meaning and motivation to its members.
This last point is crucial to the success of a civilization since no societal
integration is possible unless people are motivated to participate in its growth.
Why do we get up in the morning? How do we see ourselves alongside other members of
society? Why do we follow society's rules? Without a sense of purpose and direction
people are likely to become apathetic. When this happens - like a party that nobody
is enjoying any more - a society may be facing a decline.
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