The first section of this book describes early history and how it is not unlike present day society. The author explores the various ways in which society had operated and the similarities between the function of the state now and then. The author argues that in postindustrial society the idea of capitalism was present. One of the main reasons it does not appear like our modern day capitalistic society is due lack of technological advances in the past. One of the main ideas present in the first section is the idea that states produced and manufactured materials back then as a way to better their lives and society. It is argued that states became interconnected with each other through various different relationships in which leaders and individuals needed something from the other. Different historical events that helped shape the world system are explored and ideas as to why things emerged the way they did are addressed.
One of the main themes in this section is how and why individuals viewed outside actors the way they did. The author addresses the issue of lack or incomplete information. Events were not as well documented in the past as they are in present day, which can lead to the spread of inaccurate information. The author uses the story of Marco Polo and his documented adventures to reveal why early documentation was not always a reliable source of information. This inaccurate information can cause individuals to have negative views about things such as events and cultures unlike theirs and cause them to condition later generations to hold these feelings. When actors are not fully aware of certain others situations it causes them to revert back to what they have learned from others.
One way to describe this idea can be used with the attribution theory, which focuses on the biased ways in which people ascribe motives and develop causal explanations. People tend to overestimate the importance of external factors in explaining the behavior of others and do the reverse when explaining their own behavior. They overvalue recent events when anticipating future possibilities. I am interested to see how the next section addresses these concerns while continuing on to explain how states began to work and interconnect with each other. If individuals are taught negative stereotypes about other groups then how is this learned idea able to break away over time? What actions must individuals take in order to dissolve historically negative images?
I agree that when taught these negative stereotypes, they are hard to break away from—although it can be done. Even if you see just one instance where a stereotype is broken—you will remember this. Because it went against what you were expecting, you are more likely to remember the situation. So the next time this situation arises, you will look for the stereotype to be broken again. A lot of people would say you need to be naïve or open-minded to break negative stereotypes, but I wouldn’t exactly say that—you just need to be proved wrong a few times.
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