ABSTRACT
The expansion of exchange networks, coercively when necessary, increased the relative power of the new production mode vis-à-vis other modes both quantitatively and [what is important for this chapter] symbolically. It legitimated, indeed, demanded, the expansion of the bureaucracy and control over resources … including the use of writing, numerical controls, inventory, access controls (seals), scribes and administrators. By competing with the kin base, this new production mode created instability where there was order and then recreated order in the form of administrative integration.
