Freedom and Domination: Graeber and Wengrow's New Vision of History

This article provides a thorough analysis of David Graeber and David Wengrow's groundbreaking work, The Birth of Everything. The article deconstructs the traditional, linear approach to social evolution, replacing it with the concept of malleability and the conscious shaping of political structures. The authors focus on three fundamental freedoms: movement, disobedience, and the creation of new social relations. Simultaneously, the anatomy of domination based on information control and the monopoly on violence is explored. Using archaeological evidence from Çatalhöyük, the article sheds new light on the ability of ancient societies to evade enduring hierarchies, offering a radically different perspective on the history and future of human autonomy.