Wittfogel's Model Of Water Scheduling

The main component in Wittfogel's model is irrigation. After a society achieves large scale irrigation, they then get water scheduling, irrigation planning, labor coordination, defense of waterworks, and stable productivity. These then all branch off and the society achieves more components of a state-level society. Water scheduling leads to legal power and calendrics. This leads to legal power since there has to be people in charge in order to make sure that the system is using the correct frequency and duration of watering, so there must be a power system in place in order to ensure that this process runs smoothly. Water scheduling leads to calendrics since it is important to know when to water the crops and during what time of year the crops …show more content…
There is no one main component, but rather all of the components are intertwined and rely on each other. In Adams model all of the components are important in order for the state to be achieved. The main structure of the model is that warfare leads to war leaders, which leads to state, which leads to irrigation, collecting, and herding, which leads right back to warfare. All of these parts are connected and without one the rest would not work. All of these components are needed for a state-level society to form. The model goes more in-depth and shows more parts to state-level societies. Within this circular model, there is another circular interaction. Irrigation of crops leads to productive differential since certain people will receive more wealth than others in this system. This then leads to wealth concentration as a result of certain people receiving more than others and that staying that way for generations which can lead to great families. Wealth concentration can also lead to more land purchase since they are able to afford more land. This returns to productive differential, thus starting the whole cycle over again. Another part of this model starts at collecting. Collecting a surplus of food calls in the need for redistribution centers which then need managerial officers in order to function properly. This can then bring about great families, since they then have more power over the food sources than most people. However, having great families can led to class conflict as can having an urban proletariat. Having the unequal balance of money and power causes class conflict in these societies. The urban proletariat comes from having a population nucleation which comes about from warfare which is a key part of a state-level