HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031902.jpg
2.22 MB
Extraction Summary
2
People
2
Organizations
5
Locations
0
Events
1
Relationships
3
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Transcript / congressional record
File Size:
2.22 MB
Summary
This document page (marked HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031902) appears to be a transcript of an intellectual discussion or interview. An unnamed speaker provides a historical analysis of how the Catholic Church's ban on cousin marriage in the 8th century inadvertently fostered individualism and private property rights in Europe by breaking down extended kinship structures. A participant named Shaffer challenges or clarifies a point regarding China's meritocratic bureaucracy existing without Christianity.
People (2)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Shaffer | Speaker/Interviewer |
Asks a follow-up question regarding Chinese government bureaucracy and Christianity.
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| Unnamed Speaker | Lecturer/Interviewee |
Delivering a monologue on historical sociology, the Catholic Church, and property rights.
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Organizations (2)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Catholic Church |
Discussed as a historical entity affecting kinship and property laws.
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| House Oversight Committee |
Implied by the footer 'HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031902'.
|
Locations (5)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
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Subject of historical analysis regarding kinship and property.
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Used as a comparison for women's property rights.
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Compared to Europe regarding kinship and political power.
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Compared to Europe regarding kinship and political power.
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Refers to Western civilization in comparison to China.
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Relationships (1)
Shaffer responds to the speaker's monologue with a question.
Key Quotes (3)
"When the Catholic Church [forbade cousin marriage] in the eighth century, it wasn’t thinking about the effect on kinship. It was acting in a self-interested way..."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031902.jpg
Quote #1
"So the Church helped effect in Europe the breakdown of extended kinship very, very early."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031902.jpg
Quote #2
"SHAFFER: But China had an impersonal government — a meritocratic bureaucracy — without Christianity, and long before the West did, yes?"Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031902.jpg
Quote #3
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (1,724 characters)
27
When the Catholic Church [forbade cousin marriage] in the eighth
century, it wasn’t thinking about the effect on kinship. It was acting
in a self-interested way, because by cutting off these ways of kin-
groups’ keeping property, the Church ended up being the beneficiary.
So if a woman didn’t marry and didn’t have children but had a big
estate, she tended to donate it to the Church. So the Church helped
effect in Europe the breakdown of extended kinship very, very early.
Even in the beginning of the Middle Ages, people owned property as
individuals. Women could hold property — they could sell it,
alienate it, in ways that they still can’t in parts of the Arab world.
And this meant that individualism became very deeply rooted in
European society. So some individualism was already established by
the time Europe got to feudalism. And feudalism is basically a
contract — it’s one that is very hierarchical, between a stronger and
weaker person, but it is a contract between two people.
century, it wasn’t thinking about the effect on kinship. It was acting
in a self-interested way, because by cutting off these ways of kin-
groups’ keeping property, the Church ended up being the beneficiary.
So if a woman didn’t marry and didn’t have children but had a big
estate, she tended to donate it to the Church. So the Church helped
effect in Europe the breakdown of extended kinship very, very early.
Even in the beginning of the Middle Ages, people owned property as
individuals. Women could hold property — they could sell it,
alienate it, in ways that they still can’t in parts of the Arab world.
And this meant that individualism became very deeply rooted in
European society. So some individualism was already established by
the time Europe got to feudalism. And feudalism is basically a
contract — it’s one that is very hierarchical, between a stronger and
weaker person, but it is a contract between two people.
So the idea of exchange and private property dates way, way back,
hundreds of years before the Enlightenment, Reformation, etc. So I
think that the basis for European modernization traces all the way
back to developments like that. In China, in India, the exit out of
kinship was accomplished through political power, via a state that
tried to create impersonal government layered on top of a kin-based
society. And those kin-groups really never went away. Even in
contemporary China and India, in certain parts there are still kin-
groups that influence politics.
hundreds of years before the Enlightenment, Reformation, etc. So I
think that the basis for European modernization traces all the way
back to developments like that. In China, in India, the exit out of
kinship was accomplished through political power, via a state that
tried to create impersonal government layered on top of a kin-based
society. And those kin-groups really never went away. Even in
contemporary China and India, in certain parts there are still kin-
groups that influence politics.
SHAFFER: But China had an impersonal government — a
meritocratic bureaucracy — without Christianity, and long before the
West did, yes?
meritocratic bureaucracy — without Christianity, and long before the
West did, yes?
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031902
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