Human Nature

Dominance In society humans use stratification to organize groups of people. In doing so they are creating what is known as a social hierarchy. Social hierarchies show one of the ways humans achieve asserting dominance over others. Wanting to assert dominance over others and be “above them” is human nature, whether it is asserting dominance over the opposite sex or one society over another. In history the human nature of asserting dominance over the opposite sex happens quite often. In The Life and Words of an !Kung Woman, Nisa is explaining her life in the San people society and is unknowingly showing the inequality of the sexes. She has just gotten married to Tashay and is unhappy, but the village people tell her that a husband is a good thing, but “Even tomorrow, while you are crying, Tashay may kill an animal. But when he returns, he won’t give you any meat; only he will eat.” (Nisa 39). This inequality also happens in the aboriginal societies of Australia; however the story behind why the inequality is there is explained differently in Stories from the Dreamtime. According to oral history of the aboriginal societies a woman, Mutjinga, was in charge of all of the ceremonies, good fortune, and dead spirits, but she goes mad and begins to crave the flesh of men. So she begins to use her dark magic to attack men and eat them, but one day she is killed by her disloyal granddaughter and her granddaughter’s father and brother. The father then assumes Mutjinga’s power “And to this day, the men have kept the power.” (41). This story shows how the male leader aborigines were able to justify their assertive dominance over the women. Also in the highlands of central Kenya the Gikuyu display the same inequality of the sexes. However, this society is more relaxed in the sense that women are allowed to do things, but they can’t move up in the social hierarchy. In Facing Mount Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta explains the job division between the two sexes and also